Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a senior rescue service official and a journalist, local health authorities said.
The latest deaths in the Israeli campaign resulted from separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by an air strike that hit his house earlier on Sunday.
Another air strike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory’s civil emergency service, and his wife in their house, medics added.
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Nine of a doctor’s 10 children killed in Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Abu Warda’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 2023 to 220.
Israel’s military said in a statement that chief of staff Eyal Zamir visited troops in Khan Younis on Sunday, telling them that “this is not an endless war” and that Hamas has lost most of its assets, including its command and control.
“We will deploy every tool at our disposal to bring the hostages home, dismantle Hamas and dismantle its rule,” Mr Zamir was cited as saying.
The statement did not address Sunday’s strikes.
Later on Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that two of its staff – Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal – had been killed in a strike on a house in Khan Younis on Saturday.
“Their killing points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza. The ICRC reiterates its urgent call for a ceasefire and for the respect and protection of civilians, including medical, humanitarian relief, and civil defence personnel,” the ICRC statement added.
In a separate statement, the Gaza media office said Israeli forces were in control of 77 per cent of the Gaza Strip, either through ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardments that keep residents away from their homes.
The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said in separate statements on Sunday that fighters carried out several ambushes and attacks using bombs and anti-tank rockets against Israeli forces operating in several areas across Gaza.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers.
One Israeli air strike hit the home of a doctor, killing nine of her 10 children while she was on duty at her hospital. Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatric specialist at al-Tahrir hospital within the Nasser medical complex, lost nine of her children in a strike in Khan Younis. The eldest of the children was 12. Nasser hospital reported one of her children and her husband, also a doctor, were injured but survived.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “Yesterday, an IDF aircraft struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis. “The Khan Younis area is a dangerous war zone. Before beginning operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this area for their own safety. The claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on October 7th, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
The conflict has killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Sunday that it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards the country.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
[ I am seldom lost for words, but the atrocities in Gaza leave me speechlessOpens in new window ]
Most of the group’s missile have been intercepted or have fallen short. The Houthis did not immediately comment on the latest missile launch.
International pressure has been growing on Israel to call off its military campaign in Gaza.
Last week, British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney condemned the Israeli government’s “egregious” actions in Gaza.
They warned they would take “concrete actions” unless Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu changes course. The statement was condemned by Mr Netanyahu and he accused the world leaders of “emboldening Hamas”. – Reuters/PA
