Israeli tanks advance in southern Gaza following airstrikes on refugee camps

JERUSALEM/GAZA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli tanks advanced on the southern outskirts of Gaza City on Thursday amid intense gunfire following air strikes on the Bureij and Jabalia refugee camps in Gaza.

Palestinian sources Thursday told Xinhua that "some Israeli tanks are advancing in an attempt to cut off the Rashid road to separate northern Gaza from the south."

The Rashid coastal road is one of the main roads leading to southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on his X account, "We have very impressive successes, we are already more than the outskirts of Gaza City. We are making progress ... We will move forward."

Local eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the Israeli tanks arrived at the outskirts of Al Nour, south of the city, while other tanks advanced near Street 10.

Also on Thursday, Israeli aircraft raided the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood south of Gaza City, resulting in "a number of deaths as well as wounded people," said the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

On the same day, Israeli air strikes hit the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 15 people, and continued on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza for the third day in a row, killing at least 29, according to the official Palestinian news agency of WAFA.

Morocco urged on Thursday a de-escalation of violence against the Gaza Strip and the opening of humanitarian corridors for the enclave.

"More than three weeks after the outbreak of military clashes, civilians are still targeted, causing thousands of victims among children and women and tens of thousands of injured, homeless and of missing," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Thursday condemned the deadly airstrike on the Bureij refugee camp.

"The destruction of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza as a result of the Israeli attacks has well demonstrated the depth of the crime and killing," Kanaani wrote in a post on X.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Thursday called for a speedy ceasefire in southern Lebanon and a long-term solution in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel must stop the war machine and agree to a political solution based on the two-state solution following United Nations resolutions," Habib said during his meeting in Beirut with Deike Potzel, German special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Near and Middle East.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday called for de-escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a humanitarian truce in Gaza.

Wang said China strongly denounces attacks on refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. China supports the Arab states' proposal for a ceasefire and the maintenance of peace.

Wang called for a ceasefire and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian aid access.

At the same time, 73 trucks of aid supplies entered the besieged Gaza Strip and hundreds more foreign nationals continued to evacuate through Rafah crossing, the only crossing point between Egypt and Gaza.

Egyptian state TV reported that Egypt is ready with 30 ambulances to receive the wounded at the Rafah crossing, where 7,000 foreign nationals from more than 60 countries are expected, according to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry earlier Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday requested separately 50 million U.S. dollars and 10.4 million dollars in funding to support the health responses in Gaza and Lebanon, both of which have seen escalating tensions with Israel.

The appeal came at the end of a visit by WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al-Mandhari to Lebanon's capital Beirut to meet with officials and WHO staff to reinforce health system preparedness for a potential spillover of the Gaza conflict into Lebanon.

The Israel-Hamas conflict, raging for nearly a month, has led to the deaths of more than 9,000 Palestinians in Gaza. On the Israeli side, more than 1,400 people lost their lives, the vast majority in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which triggered the latest conflict.