Vitaly Barabash, head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Avdiyivka, said Russian forces are intensifying their campaign to take control of the eastern city, trying to advance on it from all sides after weeks of fighting.

Russian forces have been carrying out ground and air strikes on Avdiivka since mid-October, as it is a key point in the slow advance through the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine in the 21-month-old war.

Barabash’s latest advance follows reports last week that Ukrainian forces had had some success in halting and repulsing the Russian advance.

Barabash told the Espresso TV channel: “Things have become very difficult in the Avtivka sector as the intensity of the conflict has been increasing for some time.” He added, “The Russians have opened two other sectors, with which they are beginning to achieve results, in the direction of Donetsk … and the so-called industrial zone. They are trying to attack the city from all directions.

Officials say not a single building has been damaged following months of fighting in the city, known for a large coke factory. The city’s pre-war population of 32,000 was down to less than 1,500.

Ukrainian and Western military analysts say Russia suffered heavy losses, although the battle for the city of Avdiivka is rarely mentioned in official Russian military correspondence.

Russian military bloggers also talked about Ukraine’s gains near Avdiivka last week. Russian forces took control of the industrial zone and tried to lay siege to the coke factory, according to Russian reports.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive last June, but achieved only partial success in both the east and south. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged slow progress but rejected any suggestion the war had reached a “stalemate”.

Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Stopun told the Lega.net news website that winter weather and strong winds were affecting the use of drones by both sides.

Russian forces suffered heavy losses near Avdiivka and nearby Marinka, causing great destruction as the two sides vied for control over it for months. He continued, “Our defense is holding together. “We are fighting and we will continue to fight despite the bad weather.”

Israeli occupation authorities released 30 Palestinian prisoners as part of the fifth batch of the exchange agreement.

The occupation forces freed 15 children and 15 women, 20 of them from Jerusalem and 10 from the West Bank.

This coincided with occupation forces firing tear gas, live bullets and rubber bullets at civilians receiving freed prisoners.

This led to a clash between the youth and the occupation forces. The occupation forces prevented the journalists from reporting to the journalists and forced them to leave.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hamas announced a list of names of Palestinian prisoners it planned to release as part of the exchange deal.

This is the fifth batch of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons under a humanitarian ceasefire reached by Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip through Qatari-Egyptian-US mediation. It came into effect last Friday and was scheduled for 4 days. It was extended for two more days on Monday.

On October 7, the Palestinian resistance launched an attack on settlements around Gaza, during which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed, more than 5,000 were injured and around 239 were captured.

While Israel has launched a devastating war in the Gaza Strip, it has caused massive infrastructural destruction and tens of thousands of civilian casualties, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to official Palestinian and UN sources.

The government media office in Gaza said the four-day ceasefire revealed the extent of the massive destruction caused by the Israeli war machine, affecting 2.4 million people living in extremely difficult conditions in all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

The media office said on Monday evening that “dozens of martyrs were rescued from the rubble or buried after their bodies were recovered from the streets, raising the number of martyrs to 15,000. And more than 4,000 women,” according to the Palestinian “Safa” press agency.

According to the office, “the number of martyrs of medical personnel, including a doctor, a nurse and a paramedic, reached 207, and 26 civil defense personnel were martyred besides 70 journalists.”

During a press conference, the office added, “The number of massacres committed by the criminal occupation army was more than 1,400, while the number of casualties reached more than 36 thousand wounded, more than 75% of whom were women and children, more than 7,000 including more than 4,700 children and women.” In addition to the number of missing, there are still under the rubble.

The number of destroyed government headquarters reached 103, while 266 schools were destroyed, of which 67 were out of service. The number of mosques completely destroyed reached 88, and 174 mosques were partially destroyed by the occupying forces, with an additional 3 churches targeted.

Regarding material damage, the office indicated that 50,000 houses were completely demolished and 240,000 houses were subject to partial demolition, meaning that more than 60% of the houses in the Gaza Strip were affected by the Israeli occupation. Gaza, total and partial demolition and uninhabitable.

The media office stated that the health sector is still experiencing a very dangerous phase in light of the assertion that the occupying army has a planned and deliberate plan to target hospitals, health centers and all medical institutions and aim to eliminate the health sector completely. Especially in Gaza and Northern Governorates.

Deliberate bombing of hospitals indicated that 26 hospitals and 55 health centers were targeted, 56 ambulances were out of service and dozens were out of service.

The occupation has not stopped targeting Al-Shifa, Al-Randisi and Al-Nasr Hospitals for Children, Psychiatric Hospital and Al-Quds, Al-Randisi and Al-Turki Hospitals. Medical staff led by Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Muhammad Abu Salamiya.

The Information Office said that Israel and the international community bear full responsibility for the heinous atrocities committed as part of the Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip, hospitals and medical teams.

The United Nations and the Israeli occupation bear full responsibility for the arrest and life and safety of the medical staff led by the Director General of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Muhammad Abu Salamiya. And all prisoners.

In light of the humanitarian cease-fire agreement, which will continue for two more days, the media office called for the urgent and immediate restoration and rehabilitation of all hospitals destroyed by the occupation, warning that the health situation continues. A humanitarian disaster.

He called upon the civil defense teams to introduce the necessary equipment and machinery so that they can recover the bodies of hundreds of martyrs who are still under the rubble.

The government media office warned of a new environmental disaster with the entry of a depression, the start of rains and the targeting of encroachment and sewage plants, threatening to completely submerge thousands of homes in Gaza and the north. Gaza rules as a result of the occupiers blocking the supply of fuel to the two governorates.

The 800,000 Palestinian citizens in Gaza and Northern Gaza provinces are living in harsh conditions and severe shortages of water, food, medicine and basic necessities of life, especially in the complete absence of international relief agencies, the vandalism of hospitals, and the complete destruction of the health sector.

Finally, the Media Office appeals to the Arab and Islamic countries and all countries of the free world to intervene immediately and quickly to find quick solutions to shelter those who lost their homes during this occupation in the Gaza Strip.

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