Palestinians forced to flee due to ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip have gathered along the coastline as Israeli troops continue to engage with Hamas militants in central and southern regions. Health authorities have confirmed at least 17 fatalities resulting from Tuesday's airstrikes. Negotiations for a ceasefire in Cairo show minimal progress on crucial issues such as future governance of two key passages in the Gaza Strip post-conflict. Israel has recently issued multiple evacuation directives across Gaza, the highest number since the start of the 10-month conflict, drawing criticism from Palestinians, the UN, and aid organizations regarding the shrinking humanitarian zones and lack of secure areas. Residents and displaced families in southern Khan Younis and central Deir Al Balah, where the majority of the population is now concentrated, report being forced to live in tents crowded on the beach.
"Perhaps they should provide ships, so the next time they order us to evacuate, we can board them; people are now crowded near the seawater on the beach," commented Aya, a 30-year-old woman from Gaza City now residing with her family in western Deir Al Balah. "Every day they claim progress in talks, that an agreement is imminent, yet everything crumbles like dust. Do the negotiators realize that each day more families are obliterated by Israeli bombings? Does the world comprehend that each day brings more loss of life?" she questioned to Reuters through a chat app. Palestinian health officials reported that Israeli strikes resulted in the deaths of nine Palestinians in Bureij and Maghazi, two of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, five in Khan Younis, and three in Rafah.
Over 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to Gaza's health ministry. The densely populated area has been devastated, with most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced multiple times, facing severe shortages of food and medicine, according to humanitarian organizations. The conflict escalated after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and capturing over 250 hostages, according to Israeli accounts. UN aid operations in Gaza were suspended on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al Balah, where the UN operations center was located, as reported by a senior UN official.
The evacuation order coincided with the UN's preparation to launch a vaccination campaign against polio for an estimated 640,000 children in Gaza, following the identification of at least one case of the disease. Meanwhile, negotiations in Cairo continue with the aim of ending the hostilities and securing the release of 109 Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Despite optimism from the United States, which supports the talks alongside Egypt and Qatar, both Hamas and Israel accuse each other of impeding progress. Key issues include Israel's demand to retain control over the Philadelphi corridor along the border with Egypt, which it claims is a major route for smuggling weapons into Gaza, and its insistence on monitoring movements from southern and central Gaza to northern areas via the Netzarim corridor to prevent armed fighters from moving north.
