Israel has launched new airstrikes and sent more troops into Gaza, dashing brief hopes among many residents of the territory that the killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, could bring an end to the devastating conflict.
Sinwar, 62, was killed on Thursday by tank fire directed at a building in Rafah in the far south of Gaza after exchanging fire with an Israeli patrol.
Several airstrikes were reported overnight and on Friday morning. At least 62 deaths have been recorded since Thursday, according to Palestinian health authorities in Gaza.
The most intense recent clashes have come in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps and the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks between Israeli forces and Hamas militants who have regrouped there. Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in Jabalia, where conditions are deteriorating.
Israeli military officials said Israel was sending reinforcements to bolster its operation in Jabalia, raising fears of an escalation of violence there.
“We always thought that when [Sinwar was killed] the war would end and our lives would return to normal,” said Jemaa Abou Mendi, a 21-year-old Gaza resident. “But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite. The war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated.”
Mustafa al-Zaeem, a 47-year-old resident from the Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City, said Israel had achieved one of its principal war aims and should stop the fighting. “If Sinwar’s assassination was one of the objectives of this war, well, today they have killed Yahya Sinwar,” Zaeem said. “Enough death, enough hunger, enough siege. Enough thirst and starvation, enough bodies and blood.”
Some in Gaza said they had been inspired by the images released by Israeli military of Sinwar’s last moments, which showed the veteran leader covered in dust, wounded and with his head wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh. In the footage, Sinwar appears to throw a stick at a drone that has tracked him into a half-destroyed apartment.
Adel Rajab, 60, said he had not supported the surprise Hamas attacks in October last year that triggered the conflict, believing Palestinians were not prepared for all-out war with Israel, but he felt Sinwar’s death was heroic. “He died wearing a military vest, fighting with a rifle and grenades, and when he was wounded and was bleeding he fought with a stick. This is how heroes die.”
A poll in September showed a majority of people in Gaza thought the attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the abductions of 250, was the wrong decision and a growing number of Palestinians have questioned Sinwar’s willingness to start a war that has caused them so much suffering.
Palestinian authorities said on Friday that more than 42,500 people had been killed since the Israeli offensive began. Most are civilians. Almost 100,000 have been injured.
Haniyeh Ashour, 48, said intensive recent bombing had forced her family from its makeshift shelter in a hospital. “These two weeks were one of the worst weeks we lived in this war. We have seen death a lot of times. My children and I do not know what it is like to sleep, and when there is a bombing nearby, we get terrified, we are just waiting for that missile that will send our souls to my children and husband,” said Ashour, whose husband and three sons were killed earlier in the conflict.
Much of northern Gaza remains under siege by Israeli forces, with road closures preventing the delivery of supplies to the area – despite warnings from the US that failure to end the blockade could trigger a reduction in arms deliveries to Israel.
“While we hear that delivery of aid will increase, people in Gaza are not feeling any difference,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote on X. “They continue to be trapped, hungry and sick often under heavy bombardment.”
Israel said it sent in about 30 truckloads of aid into northern Gaza on Friday including food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment. “We’re fighting Hamas, we’re not fighting the people of Gaza,” Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, told journalists in an online briefing.
On Friday, health officials appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients and injuries. “We face a lack of medical equipment, medicine and power outages. We use our mobile phones or use a battery to light just one lamp and we have to operate almost in the dark. We cannot perform a caesarean delivery because there is no oxygen or electricity,” said Ahmed al-Masry, a 68-year-old obstetrician.
Israel has issued evacuation orders for inhabitants in almost all of northern Gaza, but many cannot or do not want to comply.
“We know that there is no safe place, neither in the north nor in the south, and also I am afraid that if we go to the south they will occupy our lands and homes and we will not be able to return to the north, and that is what they are trying to do, so we are still holding out,” Masry said. “We only hope that the war will stop.”
With winter approaching, there are acute fears for the 345,000 in the territory who will face “catastrophic” levels of hunger, according to a recent UN survey.
“We get only polluted water and canned food from aid agencies because we do not have a source of income or even work. We cannot buy food because everything is expensive,” said Ashour. “But the biggest problem we face is finding safety. There is no safety at all, wherever we go”
With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters