Israel Intensifies Southern Gaza Assault As Blockade Starves Civilians

The Israeli enamy has unleashed a new wave of air raids, artillery shelling, and demolitions across southern Gaza, deepening the devastation in Khan Younis and nearby areas as aid agencies warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis under crippling blockade restrictions.
Ground sources report that Israeli occupation forces are conducting intense artillery bombardments and widespread demolitions east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

According to the Israeli outlet Walla, Israel aircraft also struck several locations east of Khan Younis and near the Bureij refugee camp overnight.

The United Nations has warned that humanitarian agencies are locked in “a race against time” to deliver life-saving aid to the besieged population, as the regime’s blockade continues to strangle Gaza’s remaining supply routes.

Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the UN World Food Program (WFP), said that while aid deliveries had slightly increased since last month’s ceasefire, Israeli-imposed restrictions leave only two crossings open — severely curtailing food and supply shipments.

“We need full access. We need everything to be moving fast. We are in a race against time. The winter months are coming. People are still suffering from hunger, and the needs are overwhelming,” she said.

The WFP, operating 44 food distribution points across the enclave, has provided parcels to over one million Palestinians since the October 10 ceasefire. Yet, Etefa noted that deliveries remain grossly inadequate, especially to northern Gaza — where famine conditions have already been confirmed.

“A major obstacle is the continued closure of the northern crossings into the Gaza Strip,” she said.

“Aid convoys are forced to follow a slow, dangerous route from the south. To deliver at scale, WFP needs all crossings to be open, especially those in the north.”

Despite a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops to the so-called “yellow line,” thousands of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza have found nothing but ruins.

Entire neighborhoods lie flattened after two years of the regime’s bombardment campaign, leaving families displaced in tents and makeshift shelters.

Khalid al-Dahdouh, a father of five, returned to find his home completely destroyed.

“We tried to rebuild because winter is coming,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We don’t have tents or anything else, so we built a primitive structure out of mud since there is no cement … It protects us from the cold, insects and rain – unlike the tents.”

The UN and aid organizations have repeatedly called on the Israeli regime to honor the ceasefire agreement by allowing more supplies into Gaza, warning of severe winter hardship.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said that between October 10 and 31, only 3,203 commercial and aid trucks entered Gaza — averaging 145 per day, just 24 percent of the agreed 600 trucks daily.

Meanwhile, the regime’s military continues its destructive campaign.

On Tuesday, an Israeli drone opened fire in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood, killing one person and wounding another.

A source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital confirmed another fatality in Jabalia after Israeli gunfire.

Since the ceasefire took effect, at least 240 Palestinians have been killed and 607 wounded in renewed attacks by the Israeli enamy, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.