EU to provide $27 million more in humanitarian help to Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have encircled Gaza City since arriving on the coast on Sunday, according to an IDF spokesman who talked with CNN. The IDF is now advancing towards Gaza City.
According to Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, “the north and south (of Gaza) have been cut off from one another and is under IDF control,” Rosemary Church of CNN reported on Monday.
According to Lerner, this “really means that we are pushing forward towards Gaza City; we encircled Gaza City two days ago and we are pushing forward.”
He called Gaza City “the fortress of Hamas’s terrorist activities” and declared that the IDF is committed to destroying the terrorist organisation.
Following remarks made by his colleague, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, who claimed that Israeli forces had divided Gaza into two areas, Lerner made his remarks.
“There are essentially two Gazas now: the northern and the southern Gaza. “They (IDF troops) are strengthening this line now that we have arrived at the beach,” Hagari declared on Sunday.
He said the Israeli Defense Forces will “allow for a corridor in order for the residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to move southward.”
“This passageway leads southward and is one-way only. We are still carrying out our ground operations in northern Gaza and the larger Gaza City, in addition to continuing our strong attack,” Hagari stated.
The fact that CNN has previously shown Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli attacks in the vicinity of evacuation zones highlights the fact that protection for civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip has not been ensured by evacuation zones or IDF warning signals.
Human rights representatives have stated that Israel’s directive for people to evacuate may violate international law.
