Israel escalated its military campaign in the Gaza Strip sharply on Monday, targeting residential homes and displaced persons’ tents, resulting in the death and injury of dozens of Palestinians amid a siege on hospitals and worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the area. Israeli media platforms reported a severe security incident in which several Israeli soldiers were killed and injured, while UNRWA confirmed that half a million Palestinians in Gaza City are trapped within an area of 8 square kilometers.

News reports indicated that the field situation in Gaza has witnessed a severe military escalation since dawn yesterday, with continued intensive Israeli bombardment across various parts of the city. Movement of citizens is extremely limited on Al-Rimal Street, while some attempt to flee towards the public service area, but the streets remain very dangerous, especially from the universities’ square towards Al-Shifa and Al-Nasr hospitals. Gaza’s Ministry of Health stated that patient access to Al-Shifa Medical Complex has become impossible due to ongoing shelling, noting loss of contact with medical staff and 12 newborn infants trapped inside the complex. UNICEF called on Monday for the immediate evacuation of at least 25 sick or premature infants in incubators in Gaza City to save them amid Israel’s intensified ground offensive; the hospital housing about half of them was bombed overnight.

In this context, Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesperson for the UNRWA, told the press on Monday that about half a million Palestinians remain trapped in Gaza City within an area not exceeding 8 square kilometers, while 70,000 Palestinians are densely packed per square kilometer in southern areas of the Gaza Strip, where Israel urges civilians to relocate.

Abu Hasna confirmed that “famine has moved with the displaced from Gaza City to the central and southern parts of the Strip.”

Separately, Israeli media reported Monday evening a difficult security incident against army forces in Gaza, indicating the killing of two Israeli soldiers and injury of eight others, some critically wounded, among the invading forces after an anti-tank missile targeted an army unit in Gaza.

According to Palestinian activists, the incident involved armed clashes between Palestinian faction fighters and Israeli army forces in the Al-Nasr area north of Gaza City. Israeli platforms circulated news of evacuations of the dead and wounded soldiers to three main hospitals in Israel, with Hadashot 301 network reporting face-to-face combat in Al-Nasr area, describing the clashes as massive and very intense.

Earlier reports mentioned that Israeli forces are preparing for fierce fighting in the Beach Camp in Gaza City after completing the encirclement of the 98th Division in the northern coastal area of the city, as part of “Gideon’s Vehicles 2” operation. Earlier on Monday, the Israeli army announced it detected the launch of two rockets from northern Gaza towards the Nahal Oz area in the Gaza envelope. (Agencies)