Dozens killed in Gaza as army launches new incursion in north

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

Palestinian health officials said at least another 20 people had been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the army sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months, while urging residents to go to what it called safe zones in the south.

The Israeli military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists” who were operating within command and control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Hamas rejects Israeli accusations it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.

The strikes on the mosque and the school came as the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the enclave approaches its first anniversary, and as Israel has been expanding its actions in Lebanon.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel had struck 27 houses, schools and displacement shelters across Gaza in the past 48 hours.

“These crimes take place amid difficult health conditions in Gaza Strip, and where the remaining hospitals are unable to provide good medical and health care as the number of injured and patients increase everyday,” it said.

The army on Saturday issued new evacuation orders in parts of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses. The military statement said its forces aimed to operate against Hamas militants who waged attacks from the territory.

TANKS PUSH INTO NORTHERN GAZA

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.

The Israeli military said its forces had encircled the area Jabalia, the focus of its operations.

In one air strike, 10 people were killed in one house, and five others in another strike on a second home and residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.

The Israeli military said its forces were operating in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, to fight Hamas militants, dismantle military infrastructure and prevent Hamas from regrouping.

“Before the start of the operation, the Air Force attacked dozens of military targets to support the manoeuvring forces, including weapons depots, underground structures, terrorist cells, and additional military structures,” the Israeli military statement said.

“The operation will continue as necessary, with systematic strikes and the radical destruction of terrorist structures in the region,” it added.

It directed residents to head towards humanitarian-designated area in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian and U.N. officials say no place in the enclave is safe including the humanitarian zones where Israeli missiles have hit several times.

“The war is back,” said Raed, 52, from Jabalia, before he and his family left for Gaza City on Sunday.

“Dozens of explosions from air strikes and tank shelling shook the ground and buildings, it felt like the early days of the war,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

Asked whether they would go to Al-Mawasi as the army requested, he replied: “As if they didn’t kill people displaced in the so-called humanitarian areas? We will not leave northern Gaza.”

The Israeli army has said Hamas militants have exploited the civilian population in humanitarian-designated areas, an allegation Hamas denies.

(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Sandra Maler, Christian Schmollinger and Alison Williams)