Israeli forces stepped up attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday (8), killing at least 25 people, Palestinian medics said, in yet another battle with Hamas-led militants as Israel braces for a potential wider war in the region.
Israeli air strikes hit a cluster of homes in the central Gaza al-Bureij camp, killing at least 15 people, and the nearby al-Nuseirat camp, killing four, medics said. Nuseirat and Bureij are among eight historic camps in the densely populated enclave and are seen by Israel as strongholds of armed militants.
Israeli planes also bombed a house in the heart of northern Gaza City, killing five Palestinians, while another airstrike in the southern town of Khan Younis killed one person and wounded others, medics said.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli forces operating in Gaza, causing deaths and injuries among them.
The Israeli military said it had struck dozens of military targets in Gaza in the past 24 hours, including rocket launch pads.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war in Gaza on October 7 last year with a shocking attack on Israeli communities, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
Since then, at least 39,699 Palestinians have been killed, including 22 in the past 24 hours, and 91,722 wounded in Israel’s devastating air and ground war in Gaza, the Gaza Health Ministry said in an update on Thursday.
The ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory makes no distinction between fighters and civilians in its death lists.
As the war in Gaza rages on, Israel has been bracing for another attack expected in the coming days, following promises by Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, to retaliate for last week’s assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.
A relatively contained conflict between Israel and Hezbollah along its northern border, a spillover from the fighting in Gaza, now threatens to escalate into an all-out regional war.
More burials in Gaza
On Thursday, dozens of Palestinians rushed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to bid farewell to murdered relatives before taking them to burials.
Reuters footage showed relatives carrying the bodies of their loved ones in plastic bags with names written on them and offering special prayers before the funerals.
The Israeli military renewed evacuation orders to Palestinian residents in several districts east of Khan Younis, saying it would act forcefully against militants who launched rockets from those areas.
The army posted the evacuation order on X and residents said they received text and audio messages.
On Thursday, World Central Kitchen (WCK), a U.S.-based nongovernmental humanitarian agency, said a Palestinian worker, Nadi Salllout, was killed while apparently off-duty on Wednesday near Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. WCK said it was seeking more details.
The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of such an incident, adding that it had been in contact with WCK.
In April, seven WCK employees were killed in an Israeli airstrike, prompting the organization to suspend operations for nearly a month.
Israel then said its investigations found serious errors and procedural violations by its military, and that two senior officers had been dismissed and senior commanders reprimanded.
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Source: CNN Brasil
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