Israel's move to expand war seen as fresh attempt to pressurise Hamas
Deir al-Balah and the adjacent refugee camp has become a haven for tens of thousands of displaced people throughout the 21-month war. Its central location and the fact that Israel has not conducted a ground operation there until now made it a primary destination for those fleeing war zones.
The city is also home to the Shuhada al-Aqsa hospital, outside of which many displaced families have set up temporary shelters. The UN and other humanitarian agencies relocated key parts of their operations to the relative safety of Deir al-Balah over a year ago.
Deir al-Balah is believed to house a combat-ready Hamas battalion which has been kept in reserve. According to military assessments, fully targeting Deir al-Balah and the neighbouring Nuseirat and Bureij camps would require deploying at least two full Israel Defense Forces (IDF) divisions for several months of fighting.
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Israel's decision to expand the war by attacking these areas took many by surprise, coming as it did only days after both Israeli and US officials expressed optimism that a ceasefire may be reached in the coming days.
Most analysts interpreted the decision as an attempt to exert more pressure on Hamas to accept the deal on the table for an initial 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The decision was particularly baffling as it is believed that some of the 20 hostages believed to be alive may still be held in the Deir el-Balah area.
Settlements and national projects minister Orit Strook, a member of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, which supports re-establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza, maintained that the army should expand operations in Gaza regardless of whether it might endanger hostages.
'There needs to be a great effort to not harm the hostages who are there, but it is not correct to avoid defeating Hamas there,' she said, adding that Hamas is using those areas to launch attacks on soldiers and fire rockets at Israel.
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The Hostage and Missing Families Forum reacted angrily, saying Ms Strook was 'sacrificing the hostages along with the values on which Israel was built'.
'Strook is gambling with the fate of the hostages and normalising their being held in captivity,' the forum said, labelling the minister 'a stubborn obstacle' to saving the hostages.
The forum demanded that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and military leaders appear before the families to 'clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk'.
'The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages – both the living and the deceased,' the statement continued. 'No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake.'
The IDF's advance into Deir al-Balah affects between 50,000 and 80,000 Palestinians currently residing there, according to a statement issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
'With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarised zones has risen to 87.8 per cent, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the strip, where essential services have collapsed,' the statement added.
According to the UN, the area includes several humanitarian warehouses, health clinics and 'critical water infrastructure including a desalination plant which, if damaged, will have life-threatening consequences.'
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