Israel bombards areas of southern Gaza, many people killed
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Israel on Tuesday bombed areas of southern Gaza, where it had told Palestinians to evacuate the area ahead of a possible ground attack. Many people have been killed in the attack. Israel said the attack was targeted at Hamas militants, which rule the region. There is no supply of water, fuel or food grains to Gaza since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel last week. At the same time, mediators are struggling to break the deadlock to provide relief assistance to millions of distressed civilians, aid groups and hospitals in the region. US President Joe Biden is set to visit the region. He and other world leaders are trying to prevent the war from turning into a broader regional conflict. Meanwhile, US Central Command chief General Eric Kurila has arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli military officials ahead of Biden’s visit on Wednesday.
Biden will also travel to Jordan to meet leaders of Arab countries amid fears of conflict spreading in the region. Violence broke out on Tuesday on Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists are active. People injured in airstrikes in Gaza’s southern cities Rafah and Khan Yunis were taken to hospital, local residents said. Basmi Naim, a top Hamas official and former health minister, said 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 in Khan Younis. A correspondent for the news agency Associated Press (AP) saw about 50 bodies being brought to Naseer Hospital in Khan Yunis. Family members had come there to collect the bodies wrapped in blood stained sheets. An airstrike reduced a house to rubble in Deir al-Balah. Nine members of a family living there were killed. Three members of another family evacuated from Gaza City and housed in a house in the neighborhood were also killed in the attack.
The dead include one man and 11 women and children. Eyewitnesses said that no warning was given before the attack. The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas positions, infrastructure and command centers. “When we see a target, when we see something moving, we think it’s Hamas,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman. We will deal with this.” Hamas commander Ayman Nofal was killed in an attack on the Buraji refugee camp in central Gaza. The military wing of the group gave this information. He is the most prominent extremist killed so far in the war. Nofal was in charge of Hamas’ extremist activities in the central Gaza party and was involved in creating the group’s ‘Joint Operations’ cell, which coordinated between Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other extremists in the region. The UN Human Rights Office has expressed concern over reports of civilians being killed in a military attack as they tried to flee southern Gaza.
Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged Israeli troops to avoid aerial bombardment, indiscriminate attacks, and take precautions to avoid them, and to minimize casualties under any circumstances. Israel has blockaded and bombed Hamas-ruled Gaza since an October 7 attack killed more than 1,400 people in its southern sector. Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed at least 2,778 people and injured 9,700 others, according to the Health Ministry. According to a Gaza health ministry official, two-thirds of the dead were children. Officials said another 1,200 people were buried under debris in Gaza. Emergency services are struggling to rescue people as they are running low on fuel and facing air attacks. On Monday, Israeli warplanes attacked civil defense headquarters in Gaza City, killing seven medical workers, health officials said.
Apart from this, 10 medical workers and doctors providing medical services have also been killed. Israel has sent a large number of troops to the border for a ground attack, but Hecht said on Tuesday that no concrete decision has been taken in this regard. “These plans are being prepared,” he said. They will be judged, and our political leadership will be presented.” Airstrikes, shortages of essential goods, and Israel’s orders to evacuate civilians from the northern Gaza Strip have devastated the region of 2.3 million people. The crisis has increased. The United Nations has said more than 1 million Palestinians have fled their homes, and 60 percent are now in an area about 14 kilometers south of the evacuation zone. In Gaza, in the southern part, more than four million displaced people are taking shelter in schools and buildings of UN agencies working for Palestinians.
Aid workers have warned that power supplies to hospitals in the region are on the verge of being cut off, putting the lives of thousands of patients at risk. Thousands of people are wandering from door to door for food. At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only link to Egypt, trucks loaded with relief aid wait for permission to enter the area. Mediators are trying to broker a ceasefire to open the border. The border has been closed since last week after Israeli air strikes. On Monday it appeared that a deal had been agreed but Israel denied reports of a ceasefire in Rafah. An Egyptian official said Tuesday that his country and Israel have agreed that border convoys carrying relief aid will be subject to checks at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel.
After this it will be allowed to enter Gaza. The World Food Program has said that 300 tons of its food is earmarked for transport to Gaza. Israel has evacuated its northern border with Lebanon, where there have been multiple exchanges of fire between its forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Israel said it had killed four suicide militants who were trying to enter the country from Lebanon on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, “Anyone who comes close to the border with Lebanon will be killed.”
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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