DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed a minimum of 22 folks, Palestinian medical officers stated.
The Gaza Well being Ministry’s emergency service stated that 11 girls and two kids have been amongst these killed within the strikes late Saturday on a number of properties and buildings within the northern city of Beit Lahiya. It stated one other 15 folks have been wounded and that the demise toll might rise.
There was no rapid remark from the Israeli army.
Israel has been waging an enormous air and floor offensive in northern Gaza for the final three weeks, after saying that Hamas militants had regrouped there. A whole bunch of individuals have been killed and tens of 1000’s of Palestinians have fled to Gaza Metropolis within the newest wave of displacement within the yearlong warfare.
Israel continues to be finishing up each day strikes throughout Gaza, even because it wages warfare with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked Iran — which backs each Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to an Iranian ballistic missile assault earlier this month.
The cascading conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional warfare pitting Israel and the USA in opposition to Iran and its militant proxies, which additionally embrace the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed teams in Syria and Iraq.
Israel says its strikes on Gaza solely goal militants, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties as a result of the militants combat in densely populated areas. The army hardly ever feedback on particular person strikes, which regularly kill girls and youngsters.
The warfare started when Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s border wall and stormed into southern Israel in a shock assault on Oct. 7, 2023. They killed round 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and kidnapped round 250. Some 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, round a 3rd of whom are believed to be useless.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed greater than 42,000 Palestinians, based on the native Well being Ministry. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its depend however says greater than half of these killed have been girls and youngsters.
The offensive has devastated a lot of the impoverished coastal territory and displaced round 90% of its inhabitants, usually a number of instances. A whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals have crowded into squalid tent camps alongside the coast, and assist teams say starvation is rampant.
