Hamas says prepared for ‘long battle of attrition’ against Israel

Palestinians will continue to confront the ground invasion of Rafah and other places in Gaza “No matter how long the aggression lasts and regardless of its form”, Hamas says.

More than 630,000 people have now fled Israel’s advance on southern Rafah with another 100,000 escaping from the ground assault on the north, reports Al Jazeera.

Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy and advocacy at Save the Children International, said the official number of children who have died of malnutrition amid a growing famine in Gaza likely under-represents the true scale of the tragedy.

“Back in March, the UN warned that famine was looming in Gaza. Over the last couple of months, we have not seen aid agencies granted humanitarian access to stave off that famine,” Saieh told Al Jazeera.

“We’ve seen at least 28 children die of malnutrition and disease and we know that is probably the tip of the iceberg. These are the children that managed to get to medical facilities,” Saieh said.

“The hospital system in Gaza has all but collapsed. We have paediatricians in field hospitals in Gaza who said that they are seeing cases of malnutrition. They are seeing hepatitis, jaundice, and gastroenteritis. These are horrific challenges facing children. And we just do not have supplies or enough personnel to deal with this.”

We know that at least one person was killed and eight others injured.

The target has been identified by locals in the area as a fighter named Islam Khamaysa from the Jenin battalion, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who was wanted by the Israeli military.

The house that was hit was in the centre of this very densely populated camp. All those inside are thought to have been Palestinian resistance fighters.

Videos show ambulances rushing to the scene and people being brought to the hospital. They show the deceased on a gurney as well.

Drones and jets have been used increasingly as part of Israel’s military operations in the occupied West Bank, with this at least the third airstrike in the last several months, including one in October.

The Jenin area has had the highest number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since the war on Gaza began.

Martin Griffiths, the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, says all predictions about the catastrophic consequences of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah are “Coming true”.

In a post on social media, Griffiths – who has long warned of the fallout should Rafah’s population of displaced people face a military onslaught – said there is “Almost no food left and humanitarian efforts are stuck”.