The Israeli army besieges Khan Yunis amid intense battles

On Wednesday, the Israeli army besieged the large city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, where some of the fiercest clashes on the ground have been taking place since the start of the war two months ago between it and the Hamas movement. 

Thousands of civilians are seen fleeing the area on foot, motorcycles, or carts loaded with their belongings. They are now trapped in an area that is shrinking day by day near the borders with Egypt, facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation. 

The Israeli ground assault began on October 27th against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, but the Israeli army expanded its operations to include the entire sector about two months after the start of the war caused by a deadly attack launched by Hamas inside Israel on October 7th last year. 

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement, "Our forces are besieging Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. We have taken control of security in several strongholds of Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip and are now conducting operations against its strongholds in the south." 

He added, "Our forces are finding weapons in almost all buildings and houses, as well as encountering terrorists in many houses." 

Sources in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements told Agence France-Presse that their fighters are engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces to prevent them from entering Khan Yunis and the areas east of the city, as well as the nearby refugee camps. 

Hamas's government media reported that "intense artillery shelling on civilian homes in the towns of Khuza'a, Abasan, al-Qarara, and Bani Suheila east of Khan Yunis resulted in dozens of martyrs and injuries." 

Other areas in the Gaza Strip were also subjected to bombardment. 

The Ministry of Health in the Hamas government reported "six martyrs and 14 injured in an Israeli air strike on two houses in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip," in addition to the death of the head of Khuza'a medical practice, doctor Ramez Najjar, in an Israeli airstrike on his home, where his son was also killed. 

AFP