Israel’s military said it was conducting military operations “above and below ground” against Hamas militants in Bureij and the eastern part of Deir al Balah, both in central Gaza, and that it had “eliminated” several.
On its Telegram channel, Hamas also reported clashes with Israeli forces in the area, and said on Wednesday that it had fired missiles at Israeli troops in the east of Bureij. The number of people in central Gaza, particularly in Deir al Balah, had swelled as hundreds of thousand of Gazans escaped fighting in the southern city of Rafah, once the main hub for people sheltering from the war.
A spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry warned that Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital was now the only functioning hospital in the region and was at three times its normal capacity. Health authorities in central Gaza estimate that the hospital, where the injured are being taken, is now handling services for one million people.
Some people have died of their injuries while waiting outside operating rooms for their turn to be treated, said the spokesman, Khalil al-Daghran, who is also a doctor at the hospital.
