“The smell of blood in the hospital emergency room this morning was unbearable,” Karin Huster, medical advisor for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, said in a statement. “There are people lying everywhere, on the ground, outside.”
Israel’s military said it was carrying out military operations “above and underground” against Hamas militants in Bureij and the eastern part of Deir al-Balah, both in central Gaza, and had “eliminated” several.
Hamas also reported clashes with Israeli forces in the area and said Wednesday that it had fired missiles at Israeli troops in eastern Bureij.
“There is nowhere to run now,” said Hani Ahmed, a teacher and father of five who lives near the center of Bureij, saying two buildings in his area had been hit.
“Khan Younis is rubble. Rafah is under attack. The north is destroyed,” Ahmad said. “I could take my family in my little bus and live on the beach because I don’t have a tent. “We are terrified.”
As the bloodshed in Gaza continued, there was growing talk in Israel of going to war in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants, who have been trading attacks with Israeli forces for months, forcing more than 150,000 people to flee. on both sides of the border.
Israeli military officials said this week that they were increasingly frustrated with Hezbollah’s attacks. On Wednesday, at least nine people were injured after an explosive hit Hurfeish, a village in northern Israel, according to an Israeli hospital official.
“We are approaching the point where a decision needs to be made, and the IDF is ready and prepared for that decision,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli army’s chief of staff, said Tuesday.