Palestinians flee refugee camp in central Gaza as Israel expands ground offensive there

Amna Nawaz:

The Israeli military says it has expanded its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. Operations now include the dangerously densely populated urban refugee camps in the central part of the territory. That comes as the United Nations appoints a new coordinator for humanitarian aid to Gaza, where the U.N. says more than two million people are in a food crisis, and the risk of famine grows each day.

At the Barij camp in Central Gaza, these families are on the move again, heeding Israeli warnings to evacuate. But safety in Gaza is hard to find.

Riad Abdel Salam said even evacuating is dangerous.

Riad Abdel Salam, Displaced Palestinian (through interpreter):

They threw leaflets at us and told us to get out with our hands above our heads. They shot F-16 bullets and rounds of gunfire around us. We have been forced out.

Amna Nawaz:

The continued Israeli strikes hit even so-called safe zones.

Mariam Al-Omsi has lived through decades of conflict.

Mariam Al-Omsi, Gaza Strip Resident (through interpreter):

Seventy-five years of suffering, our rights taken, our country seized and our people slaughtered.

Amna Nawaz:

Yesterday, Egypt and Qatar presented a plan to end the war, but neither Israel nor Hamas publicly embraced the idea of a cease-fire.

Instead the conflict has boiled over into the region. The Iranian-backed popular mobilization forces marched through Baghdad today with the coffin of a fighter who was killed by an American airstrike.

Fadhil Al Gazee, Mourner (through interpreter):

It is another crime added to America's black criminal record.

Amna Nawaz:

President Biden ordered the strike after a drone attack injured three American service members in Northern Iraq. It was claimed by Iranian-backed militant groups, one of a slew of Iran proxy attacks against the U.S. in recent weeks.

Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen have continued to launch missiles towards commercial ships on the Red Sea. They also sent a barrage towards the Israeli city of Eilat. Israel joined the fray, killing a high-ranking Iranian general in an airstrike outside of Damascus, Syria.

Brig. Gen. Reza Talaenik, Iranian Defense Ministry Spokesman (through interpreter):

Our reaction to the assassination will be smart, strong and with the necessary effectiveness in a way that the Zionist regime will not have any possibility to use the response in its complicated purposes.

Amna Nawaz:

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant defended the military actions in front of the Knesset.

Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defense Minister (through interpreter):

We are in a multifront war, and I say here in the most explicit way anyone who acts against us is a potential target. There is no immunity for anyone.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, Israeli operations in the West Bank have expanded. The IDF said they confiscated weapons and destroyed an explosives lab near the Nur Shams refugee camp.

As IDF troops move through Gaza, Israeli officials pledge to finish their mission. Overhead, the Iron Dome continues to intercept Hamas rockets targeting Israel and a chance for peace seems far away.