Writer: Nidal Mugrabi and Ramadan Abed
CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Israel attacked a faculty housing displaced Palestinian households in central Gaza on Saturday, killing at the very least 16 individuals, the Palestinian well being ministry mentioned, killing at the very least 16 individuals in an assault it mentioned focused militants.
The assault on a faculty in Nuserat left at the very least 16 individuals lifeless and greater than 50 injured, the well being ministry mentioned.
The Israeli army mentioned it took precautions to attenuate dangers to civilians earlier than focusing on gunmen who used the realm as a hideout to plan and perform assaults towards troopers. Hamas denies that its fighters are there.
Ayman al-Atouneh mentioned on the scene that he noticed youngsters among the many lifeless. “We ran out right here and seemed on the goal space and we noticed the our bodies of kids, particles, it was a playground, there was a trampoline right here, there have been swings, there have been distributors,” he mentioned.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civilian emergency providers, mentioned in an announcement that the demise toll was prone to rise as most of the injured have been in essential situation.
He mentioned the assault meant no place within the enclave was protected for households leaving their houses to hunt asylum.
Nuserat is one in all eight historic refugee camps within the Gaza Strip the place Israel intensified its bombing on Saturday. An earlier airstrike on a home within the camp killed at the very least 10 individuals and injured many others, in response to medics.
Israel’s army strikes on the enclave killed at the very least 29 Palestinians and wounded 100 others previously 24 hours, Gaza’s well being ministry mentioned in a each day replace on the variety of individuals killed within the almost nine-month-old warfare. .
5 native journalists have been amongst these killed in a number of airstrikes on Saturday, bringing the variety of journalists killed since Oct. 7 to 158, in response to the media workplace of the Hamas-led Gaza authorities.
Well being authorities in Gaza say greater than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed within the Israeli offensive. The well being ministry doesn’t distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, however officers mentioned a lot of the lifeless have been civilians.
Israel misplaced 323 troopers in Gaza and mentioned at the very least a 3rd of the Palestinian lifeless have been fighters.
On October 7, a Hamas-led assault on Israel killed 1,200 individuals and took greater than 250 individuals hostage, in response to Israeli statistics, as Israel launched an offensive aimed toward wiping out the novel Islamist group Hamas.
Operation Rafah
Israeli forces on Saturday carried out an incursion deep into the southern enclave of Rafah close to the Egyptian border, finishing up airstrikes on their autos that killed 4 Palestinian law enforcement officials and wounded eight others, well being officers mentioned.
An announcement from the Hamas-controlled inside ministry mentioned the 4 included Fares Abdel-Al, the pinnacle of the police power within the western group of Tel Sultan Rafah.
The Israeli army mentioned its troops continued “Operation Intelligence Base” in Rafah, destroying some underground buildings, seizing weapons and tools and killing a number of Palestinian gunmen.
Israel says its operation in Rafah is aimed toward eliminating the final remaining Hamas armed forces.
The Israeli army mentioned it destroyed a Hamas rocket cell working inside a chosen humanitarian space in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. It mentioned the precision strikes have been carried out after measures have been taken to make sure civilians weren’t harmed.
Armed factions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad mentioned the militants attacked Israeli forces in a number of areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortars.
