DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes killed at least 51 people in southern Gaza overnight, including women and children, as the military launched ground operations in the hard-hit city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical officials said Wednesday.
Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war there, and even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran. Israel has launched ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Tehran fired ballistic missiles on Israel late Tuesday.
Separately, Hezbollah said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops in the Lebanese border town of Odaisseh, forcing them to retreat.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or independent confirmation of the fighting, which would mark the first ground combat since Israeli troops crossed the border this week. Israeli media reported infantry and tank units operating in southern Lebanon after the military sent thousands of additional troops and artillery to the border.
The military warned residents to evacuate another 24 villages in southern Lebanon after making a similar announcement the day before. Hundreds of thousands have already fled their homes as the conflict has intensified.
Palestinians describe massive raid in Gaza
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 51 people were killed and 82 wounded in the operation in Khan Younis that began early Wednesday. Records at the European Hospital show that seven women and 12 children, as young as 22 months old, were among those killed.
Another 23 people, including two children, were killed in separate strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Residents said Israel had carried out heavy airstrikes as its ground forces staged an incursion into three neighborhoods in Khan Younis. Mahmoud Al-Razd, a resident who said four relatives were killed in the raids, described heavy destruction and said first responders had struggled to reach destroyed homes.
“The explosions and shelling were massive,” he told The Associated Press. “Many people are thought to be under the rubble, and no one can retrieve them.”
Israel carried out a weekslong offensive earlier this year in Khan Younis that left much of Gaza’s second largest city in ruins. Over the course of the war, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas of Gaza where they have previously fought Hamas and other armed groups as the militants have regrouped.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7 and took around 250 hostage. Around 100 are still in captivity in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say a little more than half were women and children. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Iran fires missiles to avenge attacks on militant allies
Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday in what it said was retaliation for a series of devastating blows Israel has landed in recent weeks against Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began.
Israelis scrambled for bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounded and the orange glow of missiles streaked across the night sky.
The Israeli military said it intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel and two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel.
Several missiles landed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where one of them killed a Palestinian worker from Gaza who had been stranded in the territory since the war broke out.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.”
US President Joe Biden said his administration is “fully supportive” of Israel and that he’s in “active discussion” with aides about what the appropriate response should be.
Iran said it would respond to any violation of its sovereignty with even heavier strikes on Israeli infrastructure.
Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies backed by Iran, and each escalation has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East that could draw in Iran and the United States, which has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.
Iran said it fired Tuesday’s missiles as retaliation for attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military. It referenced Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Beirut. It also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader in Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday morning to address the escalating situation in the Middle East.
Israel says its forces are operating in Lebanon
Israel is meanwhile carrying out what it says are limited ground incursions into southern Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes and artillery have been pounding southern Lebanon as Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, where there have been few casualties.
Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for tens of thousands of its citizens displaced from homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a ceasefire in Gaza with Hamas.
Israel has warned people in southern Lebanon to evacuate to the north of the Awali River, some 60 kilometers (36 miles) from the border and much farther than the Litani River, which marks the northern edge of a UN-declared zone intended to serve as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah after their 2006 war. The border region has largely emptied out over the past year as the two sides have traded fire.
Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Hezbollah is a widely seen as the most powerful armed group in the region, with tens of thousands of fighters and an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles. The last round of fighting in 2006 ended in a stalemate, and both sides have spent the past two decades preparing for their next showdown.
Palestinian officials say 51 killed in Israeli strikes on southern Gaza
https://arab.news/zb3aj
Palestinian officials say 51 killed in Israeli strikes on southern Gaza
- Israel continues to strike Gaza despite its attention shifting to conflicts with Lebanon and Iran
- Records at European hospital show seven women and 12 children were among 51 killed
UN agencies urge more funds for 'increasing' Lebanon needs
"We are preparing for the reality that the needs are increasing," said UNICEF deputy executive director Ted Chaiban and World Food Programme deputy executive director Carl Skau in a joint statement, adding: "We need additional funding, without conditionalities".
One killed in shooting in south Israel: hospital
- Two injured people from the shooting incident were taken to the hospital
JERUSALEM: One person was killed and another wounded in a shooting attack near the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on Tuesday, a hospital said.
“A short time ago, two injured people from the shooting incident on Route 4 were taken to the hospital. One patient died on his way to the hospital,” the Assuta hospital said in a statement.
Police said officers were at the scene of the shooting near the Yavne South interchange, which is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation, and the motive has not yet been established,” police said in a statement.
The shooting comes just days after one person was killed and five wounded during a stabbing rampage in four different locations in the central town of Hadera on Wednesday before the assailant was “neutralized.”
Palestinian militant group Hamas later praised the attack, saying it was a “heroic stabbing operation” and calling “for more painful strikes against the occupation.”
And earlier this month, seven people were killed in a shooting and stabbing claimed by Hamas in Tel Aviv.
Palestinian militants have carried out several attacks on Israelis since October 7 last year, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking war in Gaza.
UN troubled by jailing of political opponents in Tunisia
- Several candidates were arrested or given heavy prison sentences
GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday it was troubled by the presidential election campaign in Tunisia, which had been “marred” by a crackdown on the opposition.
Three years after making a sweeping power grab, Kais Saied was re-elected president of Tunisia with 90.69 percent of the votes cast, the ISIE electoral authority announced Monday.
A low turnout reflected widespread discontent in the cradle of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings.
Saied had been widely expected to win after the ISIE barred 14 candidates from standing, with other figures jailed.
“Such cases are troubling. Their trials indicate a lack of respect for due process and fair trial guarantees,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said.
His statement recalled that out of 17 prospective candidates only three were accepted, while a number of presidential hopefuls were arrested and served lengthy prison sentences on various charges.
Meanwhile more than 100 prospective candidates, their campaign members and other political figures were arrested on a variety of charges ranging from falsification of electoral paperwork to issues related to national security.
Turk called on the Tunisian authorities to protect the country’s democratic processes and uphold fundamental freedoms.
“Since 2011, Tunisia had been a pioneer in efforts to ensure accountability and redress for past abuses, including through the work of the Truth and Dignity Commission,” Turk said.
“Unfortunately, a number of these gains have been lost, and the recent arrest of the former head of the commission is an example.”
Rights groups fear Saied’s re-election will entrench his grip on the only democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring protests.
Turk noted the broader context of increasing pressure on civil society over the past year, targeting numerous journalists, human rights defenders and political opponents, as well as judges and lawyers.
“I strongly urge Tunisia to recommit to transitional justice in the interests of victims, and to embark on much needed rule of law reforms, in line with international human rights law, including with regard to freedoms of expression, assembly and association,” said Turk.
“I also call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained.”
Turk said he was also concerned about the elections authority refusing to apply a ruling by the Administrative Court ordering the readmission of three excluded candidates, with the parliament passing a law removing electoral dispute from the court’s jurisdiction just days before the election.
“The rejection of a legally binding court decision is at odds with basic respect for the rule of law,” said Turk.
Israel kills at least 40 in Gaza, tanks deepen raid in the north
- Israeli forces tighten siege around Jabalia
- UN says 400,000 Palestinians are trapped in the north
GAZA: Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces tightened their squeeze around Jabalia in the north of the enclave on Tuesday, amid fierce battles with Hamas-led fighters.
Palestinian health officials said at least 11 people were killed by Israeli fire near Al-Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, while 10 others were killed in Bani Suhaila in eastern Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed three houses in the Sabra suburb of Gaza City, and the local civil emergency service said they recovered two bodies from the site, while the search continued for 12 other people who were believed to have been in the houses at the time of the strike.
Five others were killed when a house was struck in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Jabalia has been the focus of an Israeli offensive for more than 10 days, with troops returning to areas of the north that came under heavy bombardment in the early months of the year-long war.
The operation has raised concerns among Palestinians and UN agencies that Israel wants to clear residents from the north of the crowded enclave, a charge it has denied.
Meanwhile the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 42,344 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 99,013 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday the Israeli military appeared to be “cutting off North Gaza completely from the rest of the Gaza Strip.”
“Amid intense ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders in northern Gaza families are facing unimaginable fear, loss of loved ones, confusion, and exhaustion. People must be able to flee safely, without facing further danger,” Adrian Zimmerman, ICRC Gaza head of sub-delegation, said in a statement.
“Many, including the sick and disabled, cannot leave, and they remain protected under international humanitarian law – all possible precautions must be taken to ensure they remain unharmed. Every person displaced has the right to return home in safety,” he added.
The Israeli military has now encircled the Jabalia camp and sent tanks into nearby Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun towns, with the declared aim of stamping out Hamas fighters who are trying to regroup there.
The Israeli military has told residents to leave their homes and head to safety in southern Gaza. Palestinian and UN officials say there was no place safe in Gaza.
Israeli officials said evacuation orders were aimed at separating Hamas fighters from civilians and denied that there was any systematic plan to clear civilians out of Jabalia or other northern areas.
Hamas’ armed wing said fighters were engaged in fierce battles with Israeli forces in and around Jabalia.
Zimmerman also urged for health facilities in the north to be protected, saying hospitals there were struggling to provide medical services.
Gaza’s health ministry said the army ordered the three hospitals operating there to evacuate but medical staffers said they were determined to continue their services even though they are overwhelmed by the growing number of casualties.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the level of civilian casualties in northern Gaza.
The northern part of Gaza is home to well over half the territory’s 2.3 million people and hundreds of thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes amidst heavy bombing in the first phase of Israel’s assault on the territory.
Around 400,000 people remained, according to United Nations estimates.
Israel launched the offensive against Hamas after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage to Gaza, by Israeli tallies. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive so far, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
King Abdullah reaffirms Jordan’s support for Lebanon in meeting with PM Mikati
- At the meeting at Al-Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah affirmed Jordan’s support for its neighbor’s sovereignty, security and stability
DUBAI: Jordan’s King Abdullah held talks with Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday in Amman on the situation in the latter’s country and Israel’s aggression in the south.
At the meeting at Al-Husseiniya Palace, King Abdullah affirmed Jordan’s support for its neighbor’s sovereignty, security and stability, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on Monday.
He also expressed Jordan’s readiness to assist Lebanon in alleviating the suffering caused by the ongoing conflict.
“Jordan is working closely with Arab allies and key international players to stop the Israeli war on Lebanon,” King Abdullah said, warning that Tel Aviv’s continued aggression could escalate into a costly regional war.
Mikati thanked King Abdullah for the support, particularly his efforts to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, and for the aid provided for those displaced by the conflict.
The meeting was attended by Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and the Director of the King’s Office Alaa Batayneh.