“The smell of blood in the hospital emergency room this morning was unbearable,” Karin Huster, medical consultant for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, said in a statement. “There are people lying everywhere, on the floor, outside.”
The Israeli army said it was conducting military operations “above and below ground” against Hamas militants in Bureij and eastern Deir al-Balah, both in central Gaza, and that it had “eliminated” several of them.
Hamas also reported clashes with Israeli forces in the area, and on Wednesday said it had fired missiles at Israeli troops east of Bureij.
“There is nowhere to escape now,” said Hani Ahmed, a teacher and father of five who lives near the center of Bureij. He said two buildings in his area were hit.
“Khan Younis is a pile of rubble. Rafah is under attack. The north is destroyed,” Ahmad said. “I could take my family in my little bus and live on the beach because I don't have a tent. We are terrified.”
As the bloodshed in Gaza continued, there was growing talk in Israel of a war in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants, who have been exchanging attacks with Israeli forces for months, forcing more than 150,000 people to flee on both sides of the border.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility on Wednesday for a drone attack that the Israeli military said wounded at least 11 people in Hurfeish, a village in northern Israel whose residents are mainly Druze, part of an Israeli-Arab minority.
The Israeli military said it had used artillery and fighter jets to strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and was increasingly frustrated by Hezbollah attacks.
“We are approaching the point where a decision needs to be made, and the IDF is ready and prepared for that decision,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the Israeli army's chief of staff, said on Tuesday.