Gaza fighting continues despite efforts for truce

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — Fighting raged Friday in Gaza forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee seeking shelter, after Qatar said Hamas had given "initial" support to a hostage-prisoner exchange that would pause its war with Israel.

The Hamas press office reported Israeli air and artillery bombardment around Khan Yunis -- southern Gaza's main city and the focus of recent fighting.

Winter storms and torrential rain also pounded the devastated coastal territory, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA saying on social media: "Gaza is being strangled and the world seems to have lost its humanity."

Israeli raids targeted central and southern Gaza, witnesses said, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee, some wearing hazmat suits left over from the Covid pandemic to protect themselves against the harsh weather.

AFP video footage showed people running amid the sound of gunfire in Khan Yunis, as black smoke billowed from an explosion nearby.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced the deaths of three Palestinian Red Crescent workers -- two on Wednesday and one on Friday -- around Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis.

"Any attack on healthcare workers, ambulances, and medical facilities is unacceptable," the IFRC said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent earlier said Israeli snipers were firing at one of its buildings where thousands of displaced people were sheltering.

Nearly four months of fighting have devastated Gaza while an Israeli siege has resulted in dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines.

Images released Friday by the UN's satellite centre UNITAR based on footage collected on January 6 and 7 show that "approximately 30 percent" of Gaza's structures have been affected by the war.

"The new findings provide an estimated figure of 93,800 housing units damaged in the Gaza Strip," UNITAR said.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians are sheltering in bombed out buildings and makeshift camps.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East to press a proposal to release Israeli hostages in return for a pause in the Gaza offensive, the US State Department said.

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