DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.
Deir Al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was “shocked and alarmed” by the incursion and demanded answers from Israeli leaders.
Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. Gaza’s Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.
In the latest sign of international frustration, the UK, France and 23 other Western-aligned countries issued a statement saying “the war in Gaza must end now.” They harshly criticized Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid and called for the release of the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza.
Explosions were heard from parts of the city that were ordered evacuated on Sunday. The Israeli military official said it was the first time ground troops had operated in the area.
A man living in the evacuation zone said Israel dropped pamphlets at dawn ordering people to evacuate. Two hours later, tanks rolled into the area.
He said his 62-year-old father, who had spent the night elsewhere, fled from house to house as Israeli forces moved in and saw them flattening structures with bulldozers and tanks. Both men managed to leave the evacuation zone.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said two UN guesthouses in Deir Al-Balah were damaged by shrapnel. He said the cause was still being investigated but that heavy Israeli airstrikes had been reported in the area. Local and international staff will continue to work there, he said.
The military declined to say if it had ordered the evacuation of aid groups based in the city, saying only that it maintains continuous contact with them and facilitates their relocation when necessary.
Tens of thousands of people have sought refuge in Deir Al-Balah during repeated waves of mass displacement in Gaza.
The UN humanitarian coordinator says 87.8 percent of Gaza is now under evacuation orders or inside Israeli military zones, “leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 percent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed.”
Israel has taken over large areas of Gaza and split the territory with corridors stretching from the border to the sea as it seeks to pressure Hamas to release more hostages.
In response to the Deir Al-Balah incursion, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum warned in its statement that “the people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages — both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn’t know what was at stake.”
Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas, and it accuses the group of prolonging the war because Hamas has not accepted Israel’s terms for a ceasefire.
The World Food Programme, in a rare condemnation, said the crowd surrounding its convoy in northern Gaza on Sunday “came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire.” It said “countless lives” were lost. A photographer working with the AP counted 51 bodies at two hospitals.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 80 people were killed. Israel’s military said it fired warning shots “to remove an immediate threat” and questioned the death toll reported by the Palestinians. It declined to comment on the WFP statement.