More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Sunday.
Israeli strikes across southern Gaza killed at least 26 people overnight into Sunday, including a senior Hamas political leader and several women and children.
Israel’s military also sent ground troops into parts of the southern city of Rafah as thousands of Palestinians fled after new evacuation orders.
The attacks came after Israel carried out a strike in Tyre, south Lebanon, on Saturday, killing one and wounding seven people and endangering the shaky truce that ended a year-long conflict against Hizbullah, as 40 survivors of Hamas captivity called on the Israeli government to halt the “endless war”.
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The strike on a building came after Israel carried out dozens of air strikes in Lebanon on Saturday, its most intense aerial assault on the country in four months. In total, six people were killed, including a child, and 28 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who are allied with Hamas, meanwhile, launched another missile at Israel, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said it was intercepted with no casualties or damage.
In Gaza, Hamas and Palestinian media said on Sunday that an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis killed Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas political leader. Pro-Hamas media said the air strike killed Bardaweel, a member of its political office, and his wife.
The European and Kuwaiti hospitals in southern Gaza said they had received 17 bodies from attacks over Saturday night into Sunday, including several women and children.
Residents said tanks had advanced into an area of the southern city of Rafah as the military ordered it evacuated.
Israel’s Lebanon strikes were its deadliest there since the November 27th ceasefire which had put an end to 13 months of hostilities between Hizbullah and Israel.
The strike on Tyre, in particular, one of the largest cities in south Lebanon and far from the Lebanese border, was a major escalation and threatened to upend the fragile ceasefire agreement.
The wave of Israeli air strikes was triggered by the launching of three rockets from Lebanon by unknown groups, which were intercepted by the Israeli air force.
In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Hizbullah denied any involvement in the rocket attacks and stressed its commitment to the ceasefire agreement. It added that Israeli claims that it was behind the strikes were “merely a pretext for continued attacks on Lebanon”.
Lebanon’s minister of defence, Michel Menassa, said the country was “continuing its diplomatic, political and military efforts to ensure Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah has stopped full-scale military hostilities between the two warring parties, though Israel has conducted hundreds of air strikes on Lebanon despite the truce.
Hizbullah has been severely weakened after its war with Israel, with most of its senior leadership dead, thousands of its fighters killed and its weapons stock depleted.
The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, warned on Saturday that renewed military operations in south Lebanon could risk dragging the country back into war.
Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force that monitors the Israel-Lebanon border, warned against further military escalation that could lead to the ceasefire being broken.
In Israel, several thousand protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday, blocking key highways across the country in a demonstration against Binyamin Netanyahu’s government.
The immediate trigger for the anger was the government’s attempt to dismiss Ronen Bar, the head of the internal security agency, a move described as an attempt to undermine Israel’s democratic system, but the prime minister’s decision to shatter a two-month-old truce in Gaza with waves of lethal air strikes has also fuelled the demonstrations.
Forty freed hostages of Hamas captivity and 250 family members of Israeli soldiers and civilians still held in Gaza signed a letter on Friday calling on Mr Netanyahu to halt Israel’s renewed military activities and return to the negotiating table to secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages who are still in the territory.
The letter comes as Israel’s defence minister on Friday said he had instructed the military to “seize more ground” in Gaza and threatened to annex part of the territory unless Hamas released Israeli hostages still held in the devastated territory.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said more than 500 people had been killed since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest tolls since the war began more than 17 months ago with Hamas’s attack on Israel.
A three-phase ceasefire was agreed in January but Israel refused to begin talks on the implementation of a second phase, which was supposed to lead to a return of all hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to hostilities.
Instead, Israel proposed a new plan, reportedly put forward by the US envoy, Steve Witkoff, involving a 30- to 60-day truce and the release of all remaining hostages. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners – a key component of the first phase.
On Saturday, the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, called on Hamas to relinquish power in order to safeguard the “existence” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said on Friday it was still debating Mr Witkoff’s proposal and other proposals made by intermediaries, including Egypt.
The intense fighting comes as Mr Netanyahu is locked in a fierce battle with Israel’s judicial system after the supreme court blocked his attempt to fire the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, who has been investigating Mr Netanyahu’s close aides for alleged breaches of national security.
About 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, died in the surprise attack by Hamas in October 2023. The ensuing Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 49,000 people, mostly civilians. – Agencies
