Hamas battles Israeli invasion forces in Khan Yunis city
\nGAZA
\nAGENCIES
\nUnited Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the attention of the Security Council the deteriorating conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
\nIn Article 99, the charter states, \u201cthe Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security\u201d.
\nNow Guterres will have the right to speak at the Security Council, without having to be invited to speak by a member state, as is usually the case.
\nIn a letter to the Security Council released a day earlier, Guterres said the UNSC\u2019s continued lack of action and the sharp deterioration of the situation in Gaza had compelled him to invoke Article 99 for the first time since he took on the top job at the UN in 2017.
\nGuterres warned that public order in Gaza could soon break down amid the complete collapse of the humanitarian system and with no effective protection for civilians, \u201cnowhere was safe in Gaza\u201d.
\n\u201cThe situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,\u201d the letter stated.
\nIsraeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen lashed out against Guterres, saying his tenure was \u201ca danger to world peace\u201d after he invoked a rare UN procedure over the Gaza war.
\n\u201cHis request to activate Article 99 and the call for a ceasefire in Gaza constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization,\u201d Cohen wrote on X.
\n\u201cWe, too, want this war to end,\u201d Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy told reporters, \u201cBut it can only end in a way that ensures that Hamas can never attack our people again.\u201d
\nHamas battles invading Israeli forces
\nHamas resistance fighters battled invading Israeli forces on Thursday in the heart of southern Gaza\u2019s main city of Khan Yunis as Israel pressed on with its invasion across the besieged territory.
\nIsraeli troops, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers continued to advance into Khan Yunis, forcing already displaced civilians to flee again, witnesses said.
\nHamas said late Wednesday on Telegram its fighters were engaged in fierce battles against Israeli troops \u201con all axes of the incursion into the Gaza Strip\u201d, as it said they destroyed two dozen military vehicles in Khan Yunis and Beit Lahia in the north of the territory.
\nEarlier, the Israeli army claimed it had pierced defensive lines and carried out \u201ctargeted raids in the heart of the city\u201d, where they allegedly found and destroyed 30 tunnel shafts.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that Israeli forces were closing in on the home of Hamas\u2019s chief in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar, with a spokesman saying it is \u201cunderground\u201d in the Khan Yunis area.
\nSinwar stands accused of being one of the masterminds of the October 7 attacks on Israel, according to Israeli authorities.
\nIsrael declared war on Hamas after the deadliest attack in its history, vowing to eradicate the group and bring home all the captives.
\nSinwar has not been seen in public during the war, and Israel has named him and the leader of Hamas\u2019s armed wing, Mohammed Deif, as its top military targets.
\nBut humanitarian organisations have warned the spread of the war into the south of the Gaza Strip will leave civilians who fled the north, much of which is now destroyed, with nowhere to go.
\n\u201cWe are devastated, mentally overwhelmed,\u201d said Khan Yunis resident Amal Mahdi. \u201cWe need someone to find us a solution so we can get out of this situation.\u201d
\nThe latest toll from the Palestinian government said the war has killed more than 16,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children.
\nMuch of northern Gaza has already been reduced to rubble by fierce fighting and bombardment, displacing 1.9 million people according to UN figures.
\nMany civilians fled to Khan Yunis when Israel ordered them to evacuate the north of the territory earlier in the war.
\nThey are now being pushed further south to Rafah on the border with Egypt.
\n\u201cThere was bombardment, destruction, leaflets dropping, threats, and phone calls to evacuate and leave Khan Yunis,\u201d said Khamis Al-Dalu, who told AFP he was first displaced from Gaza City, and then from Khan Yunis to Rafah.
\n\u201cWhere to go? Where do you want us to go for God\u2019s sake? We left Khan Yunis and now we are in tents in Rafah.\u201d
\nAnd Israeli bombardments have followed them there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamas battles Israeli invasion forces in Khan Yunis city GAZA AGENCIES United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring to the attention of the Security Council the deteriorating conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza. In Article 99, the charter states, \u201cthe Secretary-General may bring to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-373013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n