Israeli forces yesterday carried out deadly strikes on southern Gaza and battled militants after the army again ordered Palestinians to leave areas near the besieged territory’s border with Israel and Egypt.
Witnesses reported intense bombing and shelling around Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city from which Israeli forces withdrew in early April after a devastating months-long battle.
A hospital source in the city said shelling killed eight people and wounded more than 30 others.
Photo: AFP
The bombardment came after a rocket barrage on Monday targeting southern Israel claimed by the militant group Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas.
The rockets were aimed at Israeli communities near the Gaza border and were fired in retaliation for Israeli “crimes ... against our Palestinian people,” said the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli military said about “20 projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Khan Yunis,” most of which were intercepted.
This was followed by an order to evacuate most areas east of the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, including the towns of al-Qarara and Bani Suhaila.
The Israeli military reported no casualties and said artillery was “striking the sources of the fire.”
Bani Suhaila resident Ahmad Najjar said the Israeli order has spurred “fear and extreme anxiety,” and “there is a large displacement of residents.”
Six consecutive days of intense battles followed a similar evacuation order issued last week for the Gaza City district of Shujaiya.
An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported artillery shelling in the northern area yesterday, and witnesses said gun battles raged on.
The military said its forces were operating in Shujaiya, central Gaza and Rafah, where aircraft carried out strikes and troops “ambushed an armed terrorist squad” in a car and killed them.
Over the past day, the Israeli air force “struck approximately 30 terror targets” across Gaza, the Israeli military said in a statement.
In Shujaiya, Palestinian militants “were eliminated and dozens of terrorist infrastructure sites above and below ground were dismantled, including tunnel shafts,” it added.
In central Gaza, witnesses said strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp where the Palestinian Red Crescent reported at least one fatality, a child.
Other parts of the Gaza Strip were reeling from continued fighting nearly nine months into the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Months of on-and-off talks toward a truce and hostage release deal have made little progress, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that the “intense phase” of the war was winding down.
“We’ve heard the Israelis talk about a significant downshift in their operations in Gaza,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. “It remains to be seen.”
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