Israeli strikes across Gaza kills 21 people, health authorities say
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 21 Palestinians, local health authorities said on Monday, as Israeli forces operated in Rafah near the border with Egypt, escalating a new week-long aerial and ground offensive.
Health officials said Israel has killed nearly 700 Palestinians since it resumed attacks on Gaza last Tuesday, ending weeks of relative calm after a ceasefire in January. It said the deaths included at least 400 women and children.
Islamist group Hamas said several of its senior political and security officials had also been killed.
Israel says it resumed its military operations to force Hamas to release the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza.
It says it does its best to reduce harm to civilians and has questioned the death toll by health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
Israel's Defence Minister said his country was fighting against Hamas and not Gaza civilians.
"But when Hamas fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians, it puts civilians in danger and they pay a horrible price. That is why we are urging Gazans to evacuate combat zones," Katz said on X.
Hamas denies using the civilian population and property for military purposes.
In Rafah, the municipality said thousands of people were trapped inside the Tel Al-Sultan area, where the Israeli military had sent some of its forces.
"Contacts with the neighborhood are cut off completely and the fate of (people) is unknown. Families are trapped among the ruins, with no water, no food, no medicine, amid a total collapse of healthcare services," it said in a statement.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 50,000 residents remained trapped in Rafah.
The Israeli military said troops had encircled Tel Al-Sultan to dismantle "terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists in the area."
Palestinian officials on Sunday put the death toll from nearly 18 months of conflict at over 50,000.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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Hamilton Spectator
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San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
At least 8 dead in shooting near Israeli and US-supported aid sites in Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least eight Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded on Sunday in a shooting near Israeli- and U.S.-supported food distribution points in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials. Witnesses blamed the Israeli military, which did not immediately comment. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire around dawn toward crowds of desperate Palestinians heading to two aid sites in the southern city of Rafah. Experts and aid workers say Israel's monthslong blockade and military campaign have caused widespread hunger and raised the risk of famine in the population of over 2 million. The vast majority rely on international aid because the offensive has destroyed nearly all of Gaza's capacity to produce food. The war in Gaza rages more than 20 months after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which sparked a chain of events that helped lead to Israel's surprise attack on Iran on Friday. The shooting on Sunday happened close to the sites that are operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group that Israel and the United States hope will replace a system of aid distribution run by the United Nations, which has rejected the initiative, saying it violates humanitarian principles. There have been near-daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. Witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds, and health officials say scores have been killed. The military has acknowledged firing warning shots at what it says were suspects approaching its forces. 'There were wounded, dead, and martyrs,' Ahmed al-Masri told The Associated Press on Sunday as he returned from one site empty-handed. 'It's a trap.' Umm Hosni al-Najjar said she joined the crowd heading to the aid point in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood around 4:30 a.m. She said the shooting began as people were advancing to the site a few minutes after her arrival. 'There were many wounded and martyrs," she said. 'No one was able to evacuate them.' The Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis said it received eight bodies after the shooting. Gaza's Health Ministry said Sunday that overall, the bodies of 65 people killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. The aid system rolled out last month has been marred by chaos and violence, while the U.N. system has struggled to deliver food because of Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of law and order, despite Israel loosening a total blockade it imposed from early March to mid-May. Israel and the U.S. say Hamas has siphoned aid from the U.N.-run system, while U.N. officials say there is no evidence of systematic diversion. The U.N. says the new system does not meet Gaza's needs, allows Israel to control who gets aid and risks further mass displacement as people move closer to the sites. Two are in the southernmost city of Rafah — now mostly uninhabited — and all three are in Israeli military zones that are off limits to independent media. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says there has been no violence in or around the distribution points. It has warned people to stay on designated routes and recently paused delivery to discuss safety measures with the military. Hamas started the war with its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel as Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead but doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. ___
