Israel Captures Hamas Headquarters in Gaza City
July 19, 2021
Israel's military announced on Monday that it has successfully captured Hamas' former headquarters in Gaza City. However, the conflict between the two sides continues to escalate further south in Gaza, leaving the situation for civilians increasingly dire.
According to United Nations relief agencies, approximately 90% of the Palestinian territory's population, which amounts to nearly 2 million men, women, and children, have been displaced due to the ongoing violence.
The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has reported that nearly all those in the enclave are now going without food for days at a time, with half of the displaced Palestinians experiencing severe starvation.
"I have seen a family gathering over a loaf of bread, just getting it into small pieces like croutons that we put on the side," said WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa in an interview with CBS News. "The suffering of the children in Gaza is, I think, it's unmatched."
"The humanitarian operation is actually on the brink of collapse," Etefa added. "It's impossible to deliver aid in these conditions… We need the cease-fire now."
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N.'s relief agency for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (UNRWA), has called for a major increase in the flow of humanitarian aid to the region. Lazzarini expressed his frustration and disappointment with the failure of global powers to negotiate a new cease-fire, stating that it has left him with "deep frustration, disappointment, some outrage also." He made these comments as he prepared to enter Gaza from Egypt on Monday.
The U.S., Israel's most valuable ally, vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Friday that would have called for a new cease-fire in the war. This move by the U.S. has left Lazzarini and others concerned about the lack of progress in resolving the conflict.
Lazzarini's visit to the area is aimed at showing solidarity with the Palestinian people who are trapped there, as well as with the more than 10,000 staff members from UNRWA who are still trying to provide assistance. UNRWA reported that at least 134 members of its staff have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7.
Lazzarini highlighted the urgent need for increased aid, as the flow of assistance into Gaza is currently limited due to the ongoing conflict. He emphasized the "total discrepancy between the few trucks" that are allowed to enter Gaza with aid materials and the overwhelming needs of the population. Lazzarini specifically called for Israel to open its Kerem Shalom crossing south of Rafah to address this issue.
"It's a crossing which is very well equipped for inspections," Lazzarini said on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border. "It's a crossing which used to be used before October 7th, processing hundreds of trucks on a daily basis, processing hundreds of commercial trucks and, indeed, this is a crossing that we are asking to be opened."
In a message shared Monday on social media, UNRWA said it was "on the verge of collapse," and added that if the agency did cease operations, "humanitarian aid that almost an entire population of Gaza depends on, will also collapse."
Separately, almost two dozen U.N. ambassadors were on an informal trip sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to visit the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing Monday.
"What we saw and heard today confirms that one single border crossing is critically insufficient. We need sustained access through multiple routes, including the sea route, and we need to minimize delays in the entry of aid through a robust and streamlined monitoring mechanism," UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh told CBS News on Monday.
The U.N. ambassadors visited just a day before the General Assembly was scheduled to vote on a non-binding resolution calling for a cease-fire, similar to the one vetoed by the U.S. in the Security Council, which would have been binding under international law.
In the meantime, undaunted by the increasingly urgent calls for a new cease-fire, Israel continued with the military operation it has vowed will destroy Hamas.
An Israeli airstrike obliterated a family home in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. And Nasser hospital, the biggest in southern Gaza, was left overflowing with the dead, the injured, and scores of parents and children — many who had fled their homes in the north, as they were instructed to do by Israel's military — grappling with loss and grief.
The Ministry of Health in Hamas-ruled Gaza said 208 people were killed in Israeli strikes Monday alone, and many more were believed to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings. According to the ministry, which does not discern between civilian and militant deaths in Gaza, more than 18,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war started on Oct. 7.
There's been more anguish in Israel, too, including in Jerusalem as people gathered for the funeral of a soldier killed in Gaza. There's been more anxiety, as well, as another rocket fired from Gaza landed in the Tel Aviv suburbs Monday morning, damaging apartments and several cars.
Despite Israel's grinding offensive, Hamas still has the ability to hit the country, and it tries every day.
