Israel expands offensive in southern Gaza as UN says civilians must be protected

The Israeli military is expanding its offensive in southern Gaza, where for much of the last two months it has told Palestinian civilians to flee for their safety.

The Israeli Defense Forces ramped up bombardment of Khan Younis, the besieged enclave’s second-largest city, as the United Nations and Israel’s top ally the U.S. stressed the protection of civilians.

At least 50 people were killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis in the south and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. The outlet and other journalists on the ground reported streams of ambulances rushing people to local hospitals.

It came after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the prevention of more civilian harm.

“The Secretary-General is extremely alarmed by the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas … For people ordered to evacuate, there is nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking to press, said that Israel has “indicated there are areas where there will be no strike zones, and in those zones we do expect Israel to follow through on not striking.”

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that it is “too early to make a definitive assessment … I have not seen evidence that they are intentionally targeting civilians,” but added: “We believe that far too many civilians have been killed.”

He blamed the Palestinian militant group Hamas — whose terror attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people and triggered the current war — for embedding itself in Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 15,800 people in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health authorities say.

Of the roughly 240 hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas on Oct. 7, the IDF estimates that 137 hostages remain there, in conditions unknown. It follows hostage swaps for the release of Palestinian prisoners that were carried out during a week-long cease-fire at the end of November.