Israel facing criticism as it ramps up war in southern Gaza

Criticism is mounting against Israel as forces march across the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas, leaving behind a large trail of destruction as humanitarian aid slows down to Palestinian civilians trapped in the conflict.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres invoked a rare power this week that allowed him to plead for a cease-fire before the international body’s security council as he said the “situation is simply becoming untenable” in Gaza.

“The conditions for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid no longer exist,” Guterres said before the council, describing a “bottleneck” of humanitarian aid trucks at the border with Egypt and a “spiraling humanitarian nightmare.”

“The people of Gaza are being told to move like human pinballs — ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival,” he added. “But nowhere in Gaza is safe.”

The U.N. Security Council is expected to take a vote on a resolution calling for an urgent cease-fire later Friday, but the measure will likely meet resistance from Washington.

The U.S. opposes an immediate cease-fire, arguing Israel faces a security threat from Palestinian militant group Hamas after fighters killed more than 1,200 people in an Oct. 7 surprise attack.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however repeated the Biden administration’s position that Israel “has to make maximum efforts to avoid civilian casualties” as it prosecutes the war.

“It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection, and there does remain a gap between exactly what I said when I was there, the intent to protect civilians, and the actual results that we’re seeing on the ground,” Blinken said at a press conference.

More than 17,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. The group claims that 70 percent of the deaths so far have been women and children.

Around 2 million Palestinian civilians have fled to southern Gaza, heeding a call from Israel to evacuate the north ahead of a late October ground invasion.

But Israeli forces are now fighting in the south, including the second largest city of Khan Younis, and have pushed civilians into smaller and smaller safety zones.

Blinken said Israel has learned from its invasion of the north, this time evacuating neighborhoods instead of entire cities and creating deconfliction zones away from the fighting.

But he said Israel must work harder to communicate to people where to go so civilians “have confidence to know that they can move out of harm’s way and move to a safe area.”

“Israel has an obligation to do everything possible to put a premium on protecting civilians and maximizing humanitarian assistance,” Blinken said.

Israel says it is doing its best to protect civilians but blames Hamas for using them as shields, a claim repeated by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari in an address this week.

“Every civilian death is a tragedy, a tragedy that the IDF does not want and is taking extensive measures to avoid,” Hagari said. “While Hamas terrorists hide behind civilians, Israel does its best to distinguish between terrorists and civilians.”

Israel is conducting an extensive bombing campaign across Gaza, including in Khan Younis, where Israeli troops are now operating inside the city and fighting urban battles with Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military claims it has secured positions across several Hamas strongholds in the north and that troops are working to do the same in the south.

The U.N. is warning that Gaza’s health system is collapsing and that people are running out of food to eat.

In the north, which has been largely reduced to rubble, the U.N. reports 97 percent of people are not eating enough.

The World Health Organization has reported 212 attacks on health care sites in Gaza that have killed more than 500 people.

The U.N. itself has lost more than 100 staff inside of the coastal strip, which the international group says is the organization’s largest loss of life in its 78-year history.

Humanitarian aid groups are calling for an immediate cease-fire. Doctors Without Borders said Thursday the number of dead arriving at the central Gaza hospital of Al-Aqsa surpassed the number of injured patients, with 115 killed in 24 hours.

“The hospital is full, the morgue is full,” the group said in a statement. “We call on Israeli Forces to stop the indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. We need a ceasefire now.”