CAIRO: Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 48 Palestinians, including a journalist and rescue workers, medics said, and the Israeli military said its air and ground forces in the north of the enclave killed dozens of militants and captured others.
An airstrike hit the civil emergency center in the Nuseirat market area in the central Gaza Strip, killing Ahmed Al-Louh, a video journalist for Al Jazeera TV, and five other people, medics and fellow journalists said.
The TV network said he was working when he was killed and condemned Israel.
The Israeli military said the strike had targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants operating from Gaza’s Civil Defense’s Nuseirat office. It named Al-Louh as a member of the militant group Islamic Jihad, without providing evidence.
Al Jazeera did not immediately comment on the Israeli allegation but has condemned previous claims by Israel naming some of the Qatari-owned network’s journalists killed in the Gaza war as members of militant groups.
Hamas media said the head of the civil emergency service in Nuseirat, Nedal Abu Hjayyer, was also killed.
“The civil emergency headquarters in Nuseirat camp was hit during the crews’ presence, they work around the clock to serve the people,” said Zaki Emadeldeen from the civil emergency service to reporters at the hospital.
Another airstrike hit a group of Hamas-linked men tasked with protecting aid trucks west of Gaza City, and medics said several were hurt but exact figures were unavailable.
At least 11 people were killed in three Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City houses, nine were killed in the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia camp when clusters of houses were bombed or set ablaze, and two were killed in Rafah, medics and residents said.
The Israeli military said the three Gaza City houses belonged to militants planning imminent attacks. It said steps were taken to reduce risk to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
The military issued a photo showing the weapons it seized in Beit Lahiya that included explosives and dozens of grenades.
In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, medics said that at least 20 people, including women and children, were killed when an airstrike hit a shelter housing displaced families.
In Beit Hanoun, residents said Israeli forces besieged families sheltering in Khalil Aweida school before storming it and ordering them to head toward Gaza City.
Medics said several people were killed and wounded during the raid while the army detained many men.
The military said it struck dozens of militants from the air and on the ground and captured others in Beit Hanoun.
Reuters was unable to confirm whether any of the people killed were fighters. Hamas does not disclose its casualties, and the Palestinian health ministry does not distinguish in its death toll between combatants and non-combatants.
Israel says Gaza’s militants regularly embed among civilians, using them as human shields. Hamas denies this.