Israeli Forces Enter Khan Younis in Southern Gaza Strip

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Facts

  • Israeli forces advanced deeper into urban regions of the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with Israeli tanks being reported in the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis after advancing west from the border fence. Israel dropped leaflets calling for residents of six eastern and northern districts — around a quarter of the city — to stay inside shelters during the assault; Israel previously told residents to flee the area.1
  • Reporters on the ground in Khan Younis reported 'nonstop heavy artillery shelling, relentless airstrikes, and mass bombardment' of the area throughout the night. In the north of the strip, the Israeli military said it had encircled the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City.2
  • Regarding civilian casualties, Israel has repeatedly defended its military actions. Israel has issued maps detailing evacuation routes, but critics say that areas to which civilians have been told to flee have also been attacked and there is no clear place for civilians to find safety.3
  • Though the UN reported that some aid is still entering the Gaza Strip, even after the end of last week's temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian access to the north of the strip is “now entirely blocked.' The UN now believes that around 1.8M Palestinians are in the south of the strip after a mass migration of civilians fled from the north due to Israeli bombardment.4
  • On the Lebanese border, the Lebanese army reported that one of its soldiers was killed and three wounded in Israeli shelling — the first Israeli attack to kill a Lebanese soldier. Over 100 people in south Lebanon have been killed in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including 80 Hezbollah fighters; tens of thousands of people have been displaced from both sides of the border.5
  • Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left almost 16K people — including over 6K children — in the Gaza Strip dead. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people [and there are still over 100 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip].6

Sources: 1Reuters (a), 2The Guardian, 3Financial Times, 4UN News, 5Reuters (b) and 6BBC News.

Narratives

  • Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon last week's temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an attack like Oct. 7 again.
  • Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.

Predictions