The north of the Gaza Strip saw continued fighting between Israel and Hamas on Thursday, as thousands more civilians fled south in a bid to reach a presumed area of comparative safety.
The intensifying fighting in the northern part of the territory has left some civilians opting to stay in the area, while others are choosing to leave, despite the risks they may face while in transit or when reaching their destination as the south has also seen regular attacks.
But the White House said Israel has agreed to pause military operations in northern Gaza for four hours a day from Thursday. The pauses, which would allow people to flee along two humanitarian corridors and could be used for the release of hostages, were significant first steps, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters he was pushing for even longer pauses in Gaza to get Hamas-held hostages out.
Taher Al-Nono, a political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said Thursday that unspecified negotiations were continuing and no deal had been reached with Israel so far.
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The Israeli military said there would be no full ceasefire — only tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid.
Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians including several Canadians.
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About 240 hostages were captured, according to Israeli tallies.
Officials from Hamas-ruled Gaza said 10,812 residents of the territory had been killed as of Thursday, in air and artillery strikes while basic supplies are running out and areas laid waste by unrelenting Israeli bombardments.
Fighting among ruined buildings
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces fought Hamas militants among ruined buildings, inching their way closer to two big hospitals as the plight of civilians in the besieged Palestinian territory worsened.
Thousands more Palestinians were fleeing from the embattled north to the south along a perilous frontline path.
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But many remain in the north, packed into the Al Shifa Hospital and al-Quds Hospital as ground battles rage around them and Israeli airstrikes rain down from above.
Israel says its Hamas foes have command centres embedded in the hospitals.
In Paris, officials from about 80 countries and organizations were meeting to co-ordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza and find ways to help wounded civilians escape the siege, now in its second month.
“Without a ceasefire, lifting of siege and indiscriminate bombarding and warfare, the hemorrhage of human lives will continue,” said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Israel and its main backer the United States say a full ceasefire would benefit Hamas.
Residents in Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, said Israeli tanks were stationed around the area. Both sides reported inflicting heavy casualties on one another in intense street battles.
Israel, which has vowed to wipe out Hamas, says 33 of its soldiers have been killed in its ground operation as they advanced into the heart of Gaza City..
Thousands still on the move
Thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge at Al-Shifa hospital inside Gaza City despite Israel’s orders to evacuate the area it has encircled. They are sheltering in tents in the hospital grounds and say they have nowhere else to go.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA said Israel had again told residents of the north to move south, and that shelling around the main road continued, endangering evacuees.
“We saw decomposed bodies, people from civilian cars, civilians like us, not military cars or resistance men,” Khaled Abu Issa said after crossing into the south with his family at Wadi Gaza.
In Khan Younis, Gaza’s main southern city, residents picked through the rubble and twisted debris of a building destroyed by an Israeli air strike, hoping to find survivors, on Thursday morning, witnesses said.
A key crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt remained closed well into Thursday to thousands looking to leave the enclave, including hundreds of Canadian citizens. Evacuations for foreign passport holders and Palestinians needing medical treatment later resumed through the Rafah crossing, Egyptian security and medical sources said.
Global Affairs Canada says Canadian officials in Egypt remain ready to welcome those leaving the territory and help them get to Cairo. Those coming from Gaza are allowed to stay in Egypt for up to three days.
On Tuesday, 75 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families were the first people connected to Canada to leave the territory since the war began a month ago. The Canadian government has stressed it can’t guarantee all who want to leave Gaza will be able to do so.
Outside of Gaza, tensions have also soared on other fault lines. Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah said it fired missiles over the border into Israel, and Israel’s military said it responded with artillery fire.
Ten Palestinians were killed and at least 20 others were injured by Israeli forces in a raid on Jenin city and refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday. Israel’s military said it was conducting counter-terrorism raids.
An unidentified drone hit a civilian building in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, the Israeli military said, causing only light damage.
Featured VideoMany in the West Bank see Israel’s war against Hamas as an attack on the Palestinian people. CBC’s Margaret Evans breaks down why some say it will only increase support for the militant Islamist group.