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.
Israeli forces carry out air, ground attacks in Gaza; dozens dead
https://arab.news/g446c
Israeli forces carry out air, ground attacks in Gaza; dozens dead
- 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
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
