Israeli airstrikes degree flats in Gaza refugee camp, as floor troops battle Hamas militants

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A flurry of Israeli airstrikes Tuesday on a refugee camp close to Gaza Metropolis leveled condominium buildings, leaving craters the place they as soon as stood, as floor troops battled Hamas militants throughout northern Gaza and attacked underground compounds.

The Hamas-run Inside Ministry mentioned not less than six airstrikes destroyed quite a lot of condominium blocks in Jabaliya, and it reported a lot of casualties however didn’t instantly present particulars.

The Israeli army mentioned Tuesday it carried out a wide-scale strike in Jabaliya on Hamas infrastructure “that had taken over civilian buildings” and that tunnels below the buildings collapsed. It mentioned the strikes killed a lot of Hamas militants, together with Ibrahim Biari, who it mentioned oversaw operations within the northern a part of the strip.

Israel mentioned two of its troopers have been killed in preventing in northern Gaza, the primary army deaths reported for the reason that floor offensive into the tiny Mediterranean territory accelerated late final week.

With a number of hundred thousand Palestinians nonetheless within the northern a part of Gaza, Israeli troops and tanks reportedly have superior on a number of sides of Gaza Metropolis, the sprawling city heart.

Casualties are anticipated to mount on each side because the battle strikes into dense, residential neighborhoods, whilst overwhelmed hospitals within the north warn they’re nearing collapse with provides largely lower off and strikes hitting close by. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected requires a cease-fire and once more vowed to crush Hamas’ capacity to control Gaza or threaten Israel following its bloody Oct. 7 rampage, which ignited the warfare.

Within the Jabaliya refugee camp, a densely built-up space of small streets on Gaza Metropolis’s outskirts, footage of the scene from Al-Jazeera TV confirmed not less than 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 way of the wreckage, looking for survivors beneath the pancaked buildings. Younger males carried the limp types of two youngsters from the higher flooring of a broken condominium block’s crumbling body whereas serving to down one other little one and girl. It was unclear whether or not the kids have been alive or useless.

Additionally on Tuesday, the Israeli army mentioned floor troops took management of a Hamas army stronghold in west Jabaliya, killing 50 militants.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denied the army’s declare, saying it was attempting to justify “its heinous crime” towards civilians.

Greater than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed within the warfare, largely ladies and minors, the Gaza Well being Ministry mentioned Tuesday, 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 individuals have died on the Israeli facet, primarily civilians killed throughout Hamas’ preliminary assault, additionally an unprecedented determine. Palestinian militants additionally kidnapped round 240 individuals throughout their incursion and have continued firing rockets into Israel.

A day after Israel’s first profitable rescue of a captive held by Hamas, the spokesman of the militant group’s armed wing mentioned they plan to launch some non-Israeli hostages they’re holding within the coming days. Hamas has beforehand launched 4 hostages, and has mentioned it could let the others go in return for 1000’s of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which has dismissed the supply.

Greater than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their houses, with a whole bunch of 1000’s sheltering in packed U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters or in hospitals alongside 1000’s of wounded sufferers.

The warfare has additionally threatened to ignite preventing on different fronts. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have traded fireplace each 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 army mentioned it shot down what gave the impression to be a drone close to the southernmost metropolis of Eilat and intercepted a missile over the Purple Sea on Tuesday, neither of which entered Israeli airspace.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen later claimed they fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, saying it was their third such operation and threatening extra. Earlier this month, a U.S. Navy destroyer within the Purple Sea intercepted missiles and drones launched towards Israel by the Houthis, who management a lot of northern Yemen.

Within the occupied West Financial institution, 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. An official within the village of Aroura mentioned the house had been vacant for 15 years.

Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant mentioned the army was deploying forces “on a big scale, within the depths of Gaza.”

“Achievements on the battlefield have been very excessive. Sadly, in warfare there’s additionally a value, and within the final day the worth has been excessive,” he mentioned, referring to the 2 troopers’ deaths.

Israeli forces reportedly have superior north and east of Gaza Metropolis. South of town, Israeli troops have been additionally attempting to chop off the territory’s predominant freeway and the parallel street alongside the Mediterranean coast, in line with Dawood Shehab, a spokesperson for Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group allied with Hamas.

The army 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 army 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. Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that the militants function amongst civilians, placing them in peril.

Hamas launched its personal video displaying what it mentioned was a battle in northern Gaza on Sunday. A fighter sporting a GoPro-style digicam 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 potential to independently verify reviews by both facet.

Gaza’s humanitarian disaster continued to worsen.

The World Well being Group mentioned two hospitals have been broken and an ambulance destroyed in Gaza during the last two days. It mentioned all 13 hospitals working within the north have obtained Israeli evacuation orders in current days. Medics have refused such orders, saying it could be a demise sentence for sufferers on life assist.

Gaza Metropolis’s Shifa Hospital, the biggest within the territory, is on the verge of operating out gas, the Well being Ministry mentioned.

There was no central electrical energy in Gaza for weeks, and Israel has barred the entry of gas wanted to energy mills for hospitals and houses, saying it needs to forestall it from falling into Hamas’ fingers.

It has allowed a restricted quantity of meals, water, drugs and different provides to enter from Egypt, although far lower than what is required, aid teams say. A convoy of 59 support vans entered by way of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt on Tuesday — the biggest but — bringing the entire which have entered since Oct. 22 to 216, in line with Wael Abu Omar, Hamas’ spokesperson for the crossing.

The U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, generally known as UNRWA, says 64 of its employees have been killed for the reason that begin of the warfare, together with a person killed alongside his spouse and eight youngsters in a strike late Monday.

“That is the best quantity ever of U.N. support staff killed in any battle world wide in such a short while,” spokesperson Juliette Touma instructed The Related Press. “UNRWA won’t ever be the identical with out these colleagues.”

Some 800,000 individuals have heeded the Israeli army’s orders to flee from the northern a part of the strip to the south, in line with Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli army spokesman. 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 predominant north-south freeway this week. Video circulating Monday confirmed a tank opening fireplace on a automobile that had approached a sand berm however was turning round. Gaza’s Well being Ministry mentioned three individuals have been killed.

Zaki Abdel-Hay, a Palestinian dwelling a couple of minutes’ stroll from the street south of Gaza Metropolis, mentioned individuals are afraid to make use of it. “Persons are very scared. The Israeli tanks are nonetheless shut,” he mentioned over the telephone, including that “fixed artillery fireplace” may very well be heard close to the street.

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Jeffrey and Keath reported from Cairo. Related Press writers Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.