GAZA CITY: Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 22 Palestinians as the military targeted several areas including a school sheltering displaced Gazans, medics and residents said.
Medics said at least 11 of the dead were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City houses, nine were killed in the towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia camp and two were killed by drone fire in Rafah.
Residents said clusters of houses were bombed and some were set ablaze in the three towns. The Israeli army has been operating in the towns for over two months.
The Israeli military said the three Gaza City houses belonged to fighters planning imminent attacks.
In Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces besieged families sheltering in Khalil Aweida school before storming it and ordering them to head toward Gaza City, the medics and residents said.
Medics said several people were killed and wounded during the raid on the school while the army detained many men. The number killed was not immediately clear.
The military said it struck down dozens of fighters from the air and on the ground and captured others in Beit Hanoun.
Separately, Israel said its air force struck a command and control centre in a compound in the Abu Shabak clinic in northern Gaza used by Hamas to store weapons and plan attacks.
Israeli Strikes on Gaza’s Healthcare Facilities
The Gaza health ministry said the medical centre, which also included a mental health clinic, was destroyed.
Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing to depopulate the areas at the northern edge to create a buffer zone.
Israel denies it and says the campaign targets Hamas fighters and aims to prevent them from regrouping. The military says it has instructed civilians to evacuate battle zones for their own safety.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported Sunday that overnight Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 18 people, including four displaced individuals who had sought refuge in a tent.
Photo AFP
The agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that rescuers working through the night recovered the bodies of 18 people. He said dozens more were injured in the “ongoing aggression and Israeli aerial and artillery bombardment” across Gaza.
READ ALSO: Hezbollah Leader Hopes New Syria Rulers Don’t Recognise Israel
The dead included at least three children, Bassal said. He said four people were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in central Gaza City.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
A bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks, yet there has been no news of a breakthrough.
Healthcare in Crisis
The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million population, with many people forced to flee multiple times.
The Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping operation in northern Gaza for several weeks.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reports that the operation has resulted in hundreds of deaths, while the Israeli military says it has killed dozens of fighters.
Medics in Gaza report severe shortages of medicines in hospitals amid the ongoing military assault.
The fighting has also resulted in casualties among medical workers, further straining the healthcare system.
“We are suffering from a shortage of medical staff as a result of the targeting and the martyrdom of a large number of doctors and nurses,” said Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, in a statement to journalists.
He said Israeli air strikes and shelling continued to target the hospital and surrounding areas, exacerbating the crisis and endangering both patients and staff.
Israel’s military has denied targeting the hospital directly.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli military offensive has killed at least 44,976 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable. – Agencies
