The Israeli military has been escalating attacks in Gaza, with 70 reported dead and 200 wounded on July 22 in Khan Younis. This area had suffered severe damage during fighting in March, but more recently it had been designated as a humanitarian zone, where 400,000 displaced people took shelter. Some displaced families have been forced to move as many as seven times, and others say that there is little point in moving, since there are no safe areas anywhere in Gaza. Before the assault on July 22, the IDF instructed civilians, through leaflets, phone calls, and text messages, to leave the area, but few people have electricity to charge phones, and cell phone service has been spotty at best since the start of the war in October. In the Monday, July 22, bombardment the IDF said that it targeted 30 sites across Khan Younis, including a reported weapon-storage facility, observation posts, tunnels, and other structures. Wounded people began to arrive at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and an immediate appeal for blood donations went out. The hospital has virtually no medical supplies, and patients were lying on the hospital floor, because no beds were available.
In another incident, a four-vehicle UN convoy was waiting to cross the Wadi checkpoint to go north towards Gaza City. Their travel plan had been approved by the IDF, but while waiting at the checkpoint there was “heavy shooting” at their vehicles by the IDF. Nobody in the convoy was hurt, but one vehicle had five bullet holes, according to The Guardian. All the vehicles were clearly marked. Ayman Safadi, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, said that “Gaza has not only become a graveyard for children. It has become a graveyard for international law, a shameful stain on the whole international order.”
