Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 72 people since Thursday night and Israeli forces launched a night-time raid on a hospital in the north of the enclave, Palestinian officials said on Friday.
The Gaza health ministry said a strike on houses in the southern city of Khan Younis killed at least 38, many of them women and children. Rescue workers said nine children from one family were among those killed.
The Israeli military said its forces had killed a number of Palestinian gunmen in air and ground strikes in the southern Gaza Strip and dismantled military infrastructure.
Israeli troops raided one of the last functioning hospitals in the north of the territory, claiming Hamas militants were in the vicinity. The Israeli forces ordered patients and staff to leave Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, close to the besieged Jabalia area, where Israel says its troops have been operating against Hamas militants for three weeks.
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United Nations high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk described Israel’s renewed assault on northern Gaza as the “darkest moment” of the year-long war so far, accusing Israel of trying to empty the area of Palestinians. Medics say at least 800 Palestinians have been killed in northern Gaza since the current offensive was launched. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in Jabalia on Friday.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on three houses in the nearby Gaza town of Beit Lahiya killed 25 people and wounded dozens more, medics said.
Later on Friday, an Israeli air strike killed nine people in Shati camp in Gaza City, medics said, raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire across the enclave to at least 72 since Thursday night.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry more than 42,800 people have been killed in Gaza since the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel, when 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli figures, and 251 taken hostage.
As the Middle East was bracing for Israel’s expected strike against Iran, talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are set to resume on Sunday for the first time in two months. CIA director William Burns, Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Egyptian intelligence director Hassan Rashad and Mossad chief David Barnea will meet in Doha amid hope that Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has created an opportunity to break the deadlock.
Mr Al Thani, after talks with visiting US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Thursday, said: “The time has come for this painful period for the region to come to an end.”
However, there is no indication that Hamas is willing to join the talks. The group is likely waiting for Israel’s expected attack on Iran, to avenge the October 1st ballistic missile strike on Israel, and for Iran’s possible counter-attack to see how things develop.
In Israel, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum praised the decision to resume the talks and demanded that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu grant the negotiators a mandate to strike a deal for the return of all remaining hostages in one stage. In a statement, the forum said: “The hostages have been held in Gaza for more than a year. All are in the category of humanitarian cases and their lives are considered to be in immediate danger ... We demand the prime minister give the negotiating team a broad mandate to make a deal. The hostages have no time for foot-dragging!”
Ten Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes in south Lebanon in the last two days as the Israeli operation to push Hizbullah fighters away from the border continues. Two Israeli Arabs were killed and 23 wounded when Hizbullah rockets hit the Galilee village of Majdal Krum.
Beirut authorities say Israel’s Lebanon offensive has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1.2 million, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
Three Lebanese journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike on a building in Hasbaya, 8kmfrom the Israeli border, in an incident the Lebanese information minister described as a “war crime”. The strike around hit a collection of guest houses housing only reporters in the southern Lebanese town of Hasbaya, killing two journalists from the Al-Mayadeen television network and one journalist from Al-Manar.
Several right-wing activists who want to re-establish Jewish settlements in Gaza and who set up a tent compound a few months ago close to the coastal enclave, broke through the border security barrier on Thursday night. They were arrested by the Israeli military and sent to the police for questioning. – Additional reporting: Reuters
