Israeli Strikes Kill At Least 24 People In Gaza As Deal Remains Fragile

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli army launched airstrikes against Hamas militants on Saturday. Gaza in the last test truce This began when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on October 10 that five senior Hamas members had been killed. Health officials in Gaza reported that at least 24 people, including children, were killed and 54 others were injured.

The attacks, which Israel said were in response to fire on its soldiers, followed international momentum towards Gaza with the participation of the UN Security Council on Monday. approves USA plan to secure and manage area. Authorizes an international stabilization force to ensure security, approves a transitional authority overseen by President Donald Trump, and foresees a possible path in the future to an independent Palestinian state.

Israel has previously carried out similar waves of attacks following reports of attacks on its forces during the ceasefire. At least 33 Palestinians were killed 12 hour period On Wednesday and Thursday, the majority were women and children, health officials said.

Rami Mhanna, general manager of Shifa Hospital, where the injured were taken, said that a vehicle was targeted in one of Saturday’s attacks, and 11 people were killed and more than 20 Palestinians were injured in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City. Director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said that most of the injured were children.

Video published by the Associated Press showed children and others examining the blackened vehicle whose top had exploded.

At least three people were killed and 11 others were injured in the attack, which targeted a house near Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza, according to the hospital. It was stated that at least seven people, including a child, were killed and 16 people were injured in the attack on a house in the Nuseyrat camp in the center of Gaza.

Another attack, targeting a house in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, killed three people, including a woman, according to Al Aqsa Hospital.

“Suddenly I heard a loud explosion. I looked outside and saw smoke covering the entire area. I couldn’t see anything. I covered my ears and started shouting to the others in the tent to escape,” said Khalil Abu Hatab in Deir al-Balah. “When I looked again, I noticed that the upper floor of my neighbor’s house was gone.”

He added: “This is a fragile ceasefire. This is not a life we ​​can live. There is no safe place.”

The Israeli military said in a statement that it launched attacks against Hamas after an “armed terrorist” entered Israeli-controlled territory and opened fire on soldiers in southern Gaza. It was stated that no soldiers were injured. The military said the man used the route through which humanitarian aid enters the area and described it as an “extreme violation” of the ceasefire.

In other statements, the army said soldiers killed 11 “terrorists” in the Rafah district and detained six people who tried to escape from an underground structure. It was also stated that their forces crossed into Israeli-controlled areas in the north of Gaza and killed two more people who were advancing towards the soldiers.

Israeli forces remain in just over half of Gaza after withdrawing from some areas covered by the ceasefire.

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, accused Israel of “making excuses to evade the (ceasefire) agreement and return to a war of destruction” in a statement, and said Hamas was calling on the United States and other mediators to force Israel to implement the agreement.

The Hamas statement did not comment on the claim that five senior members of Netanyahu’s office were killed.

The war began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Nearly all of the hostages or their remains were returned under ceasefires or other agreements. ruins fly They are still in Gaza.

Israelis gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to demand the establishment of a state commission to investigate events related to the October 7 attack.

“The Israeli government has failed in its most important mission: to protect its children, to protect its citizens, to not leave soldiers unrescued and unassisted on the battlefield,” said Rafi Ben Shitrit, Staff Sgt.’s father. Shimon Alroy Ben Shitrit, who was killed in the attack.

Gaza Ministry of Health announced that 69 thousand 733 Palestinians died and 170 thousand 863 Palestinians were injured in Israel’s retaliatory attack. During the ceasefire, the death toll increased due to both Israel’s new attacks and the discovery and identification of the bodies of people previously killed in the war.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but says the majority of those killed were women and children. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical experts, keeps detailed records that are generally considered reliable by independent experts.