DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes pounded Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, hitting a family home and a school-turned-shelter, and killing at least 60 people, Palestinian health officials said, as Israel pressed its war against Hamas despite mounting international condemnation.
More than 300 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the latest onslaught.
His comments were rare criticism from within Israel of its wartime conduct in Gaza.
Strikes pound Gaza Over recent days, strikes have pounded areas across Gaza and Israel has issued evacuation orders for Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, which endured a previous offensive that left vast destruction.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes that hit a family home and a school that was converted into a shelter in Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, according to Palestinian health officials, as Israel continued its war against Hamas in the face of growing international condemnation.
In recent days, Israel launched yet another significant offensive in the region, claiming its goal is to destroy Hamas and return the dozens of hostages it has taken. In Gaza, since the beginning of the most recent assault, over 300 people have died. Israel claims that its goals are to occupy Gaza and maintain its territory there, drive out hundreds of thousands of people, and ensure the distribution of aid.
Following a two-and-a-half-month blockade that stopped the entry of fuel, food, medicine, and other supplies, Israel agreed to permit a limited amount of aid into the war-ravaged territory as the new offensive speeds up. Food experts issued famine warnings in response to the blockade.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he decided to allow only a small amount of aid after receiving pressure from allies who said they could not stand by Israel as long as “images of hunger” were coming from Gaza.
When allies Canada, France, and the United Kingdom called on Israel to halt its “egregious” new military actions in Gaza and threatened “concrete actions” against the nation, including sanctions, criticism of Israel’s behavior grew on Monday.
“A huge prize” for Hamas’ October, Netanyahu said in response to the criticism. an assault in 2023 that would encourage more acts of violence.
Only a few trucks have been dispatched into Gaza thus far, which U. N. . According to agencies, it is insufficient to address the enormous demand. During a ceasefire earlier this year, about 600 trucks per day had entered.
The killing of “babies as a hobby” is criticized by an Israeli politician.
Israel’s actions in Gaza have also drawn criticism from within the nation. On Tuesday, a center-left political figure in Israel claimed that the government’s strategy for the conflict was making Israel an “outcast among nations.”.
The leader of the opposition Democratic party and retired general Yair Golan told Reshet Bet radio, “A sane country doesn’t fight against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby, and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population.”.
He made remarks that were unusually critical of Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza. Throughout the conflict, Netanyahu has drawn criticism from many Israelis, but this criticism has mainly focused on his opponents’ claims that he has political reasons for waging the war. Golan’s and other criticisms of the war’s impact on Palestinian civilians have hardly been taken seriously.
Netanyahu swiftly denounced Golan’s comments, accusing it of echoing “disgraceful antisemitic blood libels” against Israel and describing them as “wild incitement” against Israeli soldiers.
As deputy military chief of staff in 2016, Golan caused a stir when he compared the climate in Israel to Nazi-era Germany. He later donned his uniform during Hamas’ 2023 attack to join the battle against the raiding militants.
Gaza is being bombarded by strikes.
Areas of Gaza have been hit by strikes in recent days, and Israel has ordered the evacuation of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, which was devastated by an earlier offensive.
At least 22 people, more than half of them women and children, were killed in the most recent strikes, which struck a family home and a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
According to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, a strike in the nearby crowded Nuseirat refugee camp killed 15 people, while another in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed 13.
According to Nasser Hospital, ten people were killed in two strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military, which claims to only target militants and holds Hamas accountable for civilian deaths because the organization operates in densely populated areas, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
When Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, they killed about 1,200 people, primarily civilians, and kidnapped 251 more, sparking the start of the war in Gaza. A third of the 58 hostages that the militants still hold are thought to be alive, as the majority of the others were given back in ceasefire agreements or other agreements.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, reports that Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children.
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