Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
The offensive has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps along the coast as the cold, wet winter sets in.
Israel has been carrying out a major operation in northern Gaza since early October, battling Hamas in the most isolated and heavily damaged part of the territory. Tens of thousands have fled as the military has ordered a complete evacuation and allowed almost no humanitarian aid to enter.
The Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, known as COGAT, said it had facilitated the evacuation of over 100 patients, caregivers and others from the Kamal Adwan Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital in the far north, which have struggled to function. COGAT said it had also facilitated the delivery of 5,000 liters of fuel and food packages to the hospitals.
Israeli authorities also allowed Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, to enter Gaza and celebrate a pre-Christmas Mass with members of the territory’s small Christian community. The Latin Patriarchate confirmed the visit in a brief statement.
Pope Francis had again criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza during his annual Christmas greetings at the Vatican on Saturday, saying the patriarch had been unable to enter the territory because of Israeli bombing.
“Yesterday children have been bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,” Francis said.
The pope recently called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, a conclusion later reached by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations brought against Israel by South Africa.
Israel, which was founded as a refuge for Jews after the Nazi Holocaust, adamantly rejects such allegations. It says it has made great efforts to spare civilians and is only at war with Hamas, which it accuses of genocidal violence in the Oct. 7 attack.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
