By NAJIB JOBAIN, JACK JEFFREY and LEE KEATH (Associated Press)
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A flurry of Israeli airstrikes Tuesday on a refugee camp close to Gaza City leveled residence buildings, leaving craters the place they as soon as stood, as floor troops battled Hamas throughout northern Gaza and attacked underground compounds.
Buoyed by the first profitable rescue of a captive held by Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected requires a cease-fire and once more vowed to crush Hamas’ means to control Gaza or threaten Israel following its bloody Oct. 7 rampage, which ignited the battle. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Several hundred thousand Palestinians stay within the northern a part of Gaza, the place Israeli troops and tanks reportedly have superior on a number of sides of Gaza City, the sprawling city heart.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts, a minimum of six airstrikes destroyed quite a lot of residence blocks in a residential space, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry mentioned. It reported numerous casualties however didn’t instantly present particulars.
Footage of the scene from Al-Jazeera TV confirmed a minimum of 4 giant craters the place buildings as soon as stood, amid a big swath of rubble surrounded by partially collapsed constructions. Dozens of rescue staff and bystanders dug by the wreckage, trying to find survivors beneath the pancaked buildings. A gaggle of younger males pulled two kids from the higher flooring of a broken residence block, cradling them as they climbed down.
More than half the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their properties, with lots of of hundreds sheltering in packed U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters or in hospitals alongside hundreds of wounded sufferers. Israeli strikes have hit nearer to a number of northern hospitals in latest days, alarming medics.
Thousands of individuals broke into its assist warehouses over the weekend to take meals, as provides of primary items have dwindled due to the Israeli siege.
There has been no central electrical energy in Gaza for weeks, and Israel has barred the entry of gasoline wanted to energy emergency mills for hospitals and houses.
UNRWA, which lots of of hundreds of individuals in Gaza depend on for primary companies even in regular instances, says 64 of its employees have been killed for the reason that begin of the battle, together with a person killed alongside his spouse and eight kids in a strike late Monday.
“This is the highest number ever of U.N. aid workers killed in any conflict around the world in such a short time,” spokesperson Juliette Touma instructed The Associated Press. “UNRWA will never be the same without these colleagues.”
The battle has additionally threatened to ignite combating on different fronts. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have traded hearth every day alongside the border, and Israel and the U.S. have struck targets in Syria linked to Iran, which helps Hamas, Hezbollah and different armed teams within the area.
The navy mentioned it shot down what seemed to be a drone close to the southernmost metropolis of Eilat and intercepted a missile over the Red Sea on Tuesday, neither of which entered Israeli airspace.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen later issued a video assertion claiming to have fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, saying it was the third such operation. They threatened to hold out extra strikes “until the Israeli aggression stops.”
Earlier this month, a U.S. Navy destroyer within the Red Sea intercepted three cruise missiles and several other drones launched towards Israel by the Houthis, who management a lot of northern Yemen, together with its capital, Sanaa. Projectiles have additionally struck inside Egypt, close to the Israeli border.
In the occupied West Bank, the place Israeli-Palestinian violence has additionally surged, the military demolished the household dwelling of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official exiled over a decade in the past. Ali Kaseeb, head of the native council within the village of Aroura, mentioned the house had been vacant for 15 years.
More than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed within the battle, principally girls and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry mentioned Monday, with out offering a breakdown between civilians and fighters. The determine is with out precedent in a long time of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Over 1,400 folks have died on the Israeli facet, primarily civilians killed throughout Hamas’ preliminary assault, additionally an unprecedented determine. Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel.
Larger floor operations have been launched north and east of Gaza City. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli navy spokesman, referred to as Gaza City the “center of gravity of Hamas” however mentioned strikes proceed in different elements of the territory.
The navy mentioned it struck some 300 militant targets over the previous day, together with compounds inside tunnels, and that troops had engaged in a number of battles with militants armed with antitank missiles and machine weapons. Video footage launched by the navy confirmed troopers and a tank shifting down a mud street between two rows of demolished buildings, a few of them three to 4 tales excessive.
Hamas launched its personal video exhibiting what it mentioned was a battle in northern Gaza on Sunday. A fighter sporting a GoPro-style digital camera emerged from a tunnel with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and ran throughout sand dunes and shrubs with different militants amid the clatter of gunfire.
It was not attainable to independently affirm experiences by both facet.
Casualties are anticipated to mount on each side because the battle strikes into dense, residential neighborhoods.
Conricus mentioned some 800,000 folks have heeded the Israeli navy’s orders to flee from the northern a part of the strip to the south. Northern Gaza was estimated to have a pre-war inhabitants of round 1.1 million.
The window to flee south could also be closing, as Israeli forces reached Gaza’s major north-south freeway this week. Video circulating Monday confirmed a tank opening hearth on a automobile that had approached a sand berm however was turning round. Gaza’s Health Ministry mentioned three folks have been killed.
Zaki Abdel-Hay, a Palestinian dwelling a couple of minutes’ stroll from the street south of Gaza City, mentioned individuals are afraid to make use of it. “People are very scared. The Israeli tanks are still close,” he mentioned over the cellphone, including that “constant artillery fire” may very well be heard close to the street.
Dawood Shehab, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group allied with Hamas, instructed Al Jazeera tv that its fighters have been battling Israeli forces who have been attempting to chop off the principle freeway and a parallel coastal street farther west.
In a information convention late Monday, Netanyahu rejected requires a cease-fire to facilitate the discharge of captives or finish the battle, which he has mentioned might be lengthy and tough. “Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas,” he instructed a information convention. “That will not happen.”
The navy mentioned Monday that particular forces rescued one of many estimated 240 captives seized by Palestinian militants in the course of the wide-ranging assault. It mentioned Pvt. Ori Megidish, 19, was “doing well” and had been reunited together with her household.
Hamas has launched 4 hostages, and has mentioned it could let the others go in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which has dismissed the provide.
Gaza’s humanitarian disaster, in the meantime, continues to worsen.
The World Health Organization mentioned two hospitals have been broken and an ambulance destroyed in Gaza over the past two days. It mentioned all 13 hospitals working within the north have obtained Israeli evacuation orders in latest days. Medics have refused such orders, saying it could be a demise sentence for sufferers on life help.
Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that the militants function amongst civilians, placing them at risk.
Israel has allowed greater than 150 vehicles loaded with meals and medication to enter Gaza from Egypt over the previous a number of days, however assist staff say it’s not sufficient to satisfy quickly rising wants.
___
Jeffrey and Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.
___
Full AP protection: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”