At least 39 killed in Israeli strikes across northern Gaza, officials say
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — At least 39 people were killed Saturday by Israeli strikes across northern Gaza, as rescue workers scrambled to find survivors beneath the rubble, according to Palestinian and hospital officials.
More than three dozen bodies arrived at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, director Fadel Naem told the Associated Press. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency group active in the Gaza Strip, said its workers were digging for survivors at the site of a strike in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and had pulled several dozen bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighborhood of the city.
Israel said Saturday that its fighter jets struck two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area but did not elaborate.
The attack came a day after at least 25 people were killed and 50 wounded in strikes on tent camps near the southern city of Rafah.
Israel said Saturday that it was continuing to operate in central and southern Gaza and has pushed ahead with its invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Most have fled the city, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe, and humanitarian conditions are dire as families shelter in tents and cramped apartments without adequate food, water or medical supplies.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank has seen some of its worst violence since the war in nearby Gaza began. Body of missing Israeli teen found.
A separate Israeli strike Saturday in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley killed a member of the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, a Sunni Muslim faction closely allied with Hamas, it said. It was the seventh group member killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began.
The war erupted Oct. 7 when Hamas militants who stormed southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. Israel’s response in Gaza has killed more than 37,400 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Also Saturday, Israel’s army said an Israeli man was fatally shot in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya. Israeli forces fatally shot two militants there Friday, the latest flare of violence in the territory since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.
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At least 549 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Over the same period, Palestinians in the West Bank have killed at least nine Israelis, including five soldiers, according to U.N. data.
Israeli nationals are prohibited from entering Qalqilya and other areas of the West Bank that fall under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
In April, the death of a 14-year-old Israeli sparked a series of settler attacks on Palestinian towns in the West Bank. The army said a Palestinian was arrested in connection with the killing.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 12-year-old Palestinian boy died from his wounds after being shot by Israeli forces last week in Ramallah. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces raided al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah to arrest a suspect Friday, then opened fire on a group of Palestinians who were pelting them with stones.
Israeli army’s chief spokesman apparently questions the stated goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza in a rift between political and military leadership.
Israel said Saturday that it was investigating a separate incident into conduct of its soldiers after a video surfaced online showing an injured Palestinian being transported on the hood of an Israeli armored car in the northern West Bank. The army said the man in the video was a wanted suspect who was injured during an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces near the city of Jenin. The man was being transported to a Red Crescent ambulance situated nearby, it said. The army said the conduct in the video didn’t “conform to the values†of the army.
Anger is growing across Israel at the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis.
On Saturday, tens of thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv, calling for new elections and for the government to bring the hostages home. Among the families were the parents of Naama Levy, an Israeli soldier who marked her 20th birthday in captivity.
Shurafa and Jeffery write for the Associated Press. Jeffery reported from Ramallah. AP writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
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