At least 240 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since a lull in fighting ended yesterday morning . Hamas made this known, adding that another 650 people were injured in "hundreds of air strikes, artillery and naval bombardments, everywhere in the Gaza Strip". In total there are around 15,200 victims of the war, 70% women and children explains Hamas.
Israeli forces specifically targeted Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip , "where dozens of houses were destroyed".
The Israeli army claims to have attacked "more than 400 terrorist targets" .
The Khan Yunis area was the target of intense bombing last night. The air force, according to local sources, hit buildings in the city, while in parallel the artillery fired towards the agricultural area of Karara, close to the border with Israel and the navy opened fire towards targets on the coast of nearby Deir el-Ballah. Meanwhile , the military spokesman issued, in Arabic, immediate evacuation orders for the inhabitants of the Khan Yunis and Deir el-Ballah districts. The orders are to push south towards the Muwassi dunes and the border town of Rafah .
In Khan Yunis, reports the Israeli military spokesman, 50 Hamas military targets were hit "using high-precision munitions". Infrastructure used by Hamas naval forces was also targeted. For the moment, Israel is operating in that area by firing from a distance. These are preparation operations in view of a possible intervention by ground forces .
And while the USA, Egypt and Qatar hope for a restoration of the truce with the release of other hostages, the head of the Mossad orders his staff to return from Doha, where negotiations are underway .
"In light of the impasse at which the negotiations have reached, on the instructions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad chief David Barnea has ordered his staff to return from Doha," reads the statement. "The terrorist organization Hamas - he continues - did not carry out its part of the agreement, which included the release of women and children according to a list forwarded to Hamas, and approved by that organization" .
