At least 30 people were killed on Sunday in Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip, according to local emergency services, as the military continues its offensive against Hamas in the northern part of the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“Israeli airstrikes” left at least 17 dead in northern Gaza, said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defence service, to Agence France-Presse. The deadliest strike counted “six dead, including women and children” in a home belonging to the Wars Agha family in Beit Lahia, at the northern edge, he specified.
In Jabalia, a few kilometres further south, “an Israeli missile targeted a house of the Al Najjar family, resulting in four dead and three injured,” he added.
Hamas’s health ministry reported 13 Palestinians killed in the southern Gaza Strip during several raids. In one of these, nine people, including four children, were killed east of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military “continues its bombardment,” Basal said, confirming that homes sheltering civilians are being hit “without warning.” Additionally, “the ground assault continues in the northern area, which remains under complete siege.”
Since October 6th, the northern part of the Gaza Strip has been the scene of intense bombings and clashes between the Israeli military and Hamas fighters, who, according to Israel, are regrouping in the area.
Basal estimates that “more than 100,000 residents in the northern part of the enclave are without food, without medicine. They urgently need resources for survival, but we are unable to provide any assistance,” he stated, explaining that civil defence teams no longer have vehicles to transport the injured or equipment to conduct searches in the rubble.
Mohammad Salha, director of Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, described the “horrific” situation in northern Gaza in a statement. He noted that the hospital has only one surgeon, the sole surgeon in northern Gaza, despite “over 70% of the casualties admitted to the hospital needing surgery.”
– Positive Dialogue Between Palestinian Factions in Cairo –
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, stated on Al Aqsa TV, the television network of the armed Palestinian organisation, that the ongoing dialogue between Palestinian factions in Cairo is “positive,” although he added that he does not wish to rush to conclusions.
Hamdan also noted that Hamas has not received any new written proposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, where the organisation has been fighting Israeli forces for over a year.
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