At least 29 people killed by Israeli military airstrikes in northern Gaza
IDF continues to pound and push deeper into Jabalia refugee camp as thousands trapped there
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At least 29 people have been killed in Israeli military strikes on northern Gaza, according to medics, as Israel steps up its attacks on the north of the strip.
On Saturday, Israeli forces from the air and ground continued to pound and push deeper into the northern area of Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in Gaza. International relief agencies said thousands of people are trapped there.
Israel struck two houses in Jabalia and the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing 19 people overnight, while 10 more died on Saturday evening, with medics fearing the death toll could continue to rise as many of the wounded are in a critical condition.
The Israeli military published new evacuation orders on Saturday to two neighbourhoods on the northern edge of Gaza City, which also lies in the north of the enclave, saying the area was a “dangerous combat zone”.
In a statement, the Strip’s Hamas-run interior ministry urged residents not to relocate within northern areas of the enclave and also to avoid heading south “where the occupation is conducting continued bombing and killing every day in the areas it claims to be safe”.
The Israeli military said it had been operating against Hamas fighters who had been using civilian buildings and that clear evacuation instructions had been issued over recent days to areas including the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
It said an evacuation convoy to take patients from the hospital to Gaza City had arrived on Saturday with a supply of fuel for the facility.
In recent days, the military had said that forces operating in Jabalia and nearby areas killed dozens of militants, located weapons and dismantled military infrastructure.
On Saturday, it said more than 20 fighters had been killed by tank fire, close range gunfire and airstrikes as forces continued operations throughout the strip.
The operation in this area began a week ago and the military said then it aimed to fight against militants waging attacks and to prevent Hamas from regrouping. Hamas denies that its fighters use civilian areas as bases.
Palestinian health officials put the number of people killed in Jabalia over the past week at around 150.
In Lebanon, Israel similarly warned people in the south of the country to get out of the way of its offensives against the Iran-backed Hezbollah as the country escalates its air and ground campaign against the militant group.
The UN peacekeeping force said its headquarters in Naqoura was hit again, with a peacekeeper struck by gunfire late on Friday, although it was not clear who fired. He was in a stable condition, the UN said. It occurred a day after Israel's military fired on the headquarters for a second straight day. Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, did not immediately respond to questions.
A top UN official, Carl Skau, told the Associated Press he is concerned that Lebanon's ports and airport might be taken out of service. More than 1 million people have been displaced.
Israel's military said Hezbollah fired more than 300 projectiles over Yom Kippur, the holiest and most solemn day on the Jewish calendar. The military also said it killed 50 militants in Lebanon. Claims on either side could not be verified.
Israeli airstrikes on Saturday hit multiple areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Nine were killed in Maisra village in the northeast. Four were killed in an apartment building on the edge of Barja south of Beirut. Rayak and Tal Chiha hospitals in the Bekaa Valley were damaged. In Nabatieh, eight people were wounded.
The total death toll in Lebanon over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is now 2,255 killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 1,400 people have been killed since mid-September. It is not clear how many were fighters.
"We will keep standing with the Lebanese people during these difficult circumstances and also with the Palestinian people," the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said on Saturday while touring the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
Meanwhile, Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in Gaza. They have also voiced concerns over severe shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies in northern Gaza, and said there is a risk of famine there.
Israel's military campaign in Gaza, aimed at eliminating the militant group Hamas, has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians since it began a year ago, according to Gaza's health ministry, and has laid waste to the enclave.
The war began after a Hamas-led assault on 7 October, 2023, on southern Israeli communities in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
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