Gaza (Palestine): A flurry of Israeli airstrikes Tuesday on a refugee camp near Gaza City levelled apartment buildings killing dozens as ground troops battled Hamas militants across northern Gaza and attacked underground compounds.
As per reports, at least 50 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Jabaliya refugee camp on Gaza City's outskirts. Multiple airstrikes destroyed a number of apartment blocks in a residential area, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said. It reported a large number of casualties but did not immediately provide details although Al-Jazeera reported 50 dead quoting a hospital chief.
Footage of the scene from Al-Jazeera TV showed at least four large craters where buildings once stood, amid a large swath of rubble surrounded by partially collapsed structures. Dozens of rescue workers and bystanders dug through the wreckage, searching for survivors beneath the pancaked buildings. A group of young men pulled two children from the upper floors of a damaged apartment block, cradling them as they climbed down.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,525, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 122 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them civilians slain in the initial Hamas rampage that started the fighting Oct. 7. In addition, 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group. One of the captives, a female Israeli soldier, was rescued in a special forces operation.
Buoyed by the first successful rescue of a captive held by Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a cease-fire and again vowed to crush Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza or threaten Israel following its bloody Oct. 7 rampage, which ignited the war.
Several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in the northern part of Gaza, where Israeli troops and tanks reportedly have advanced on several sides of Gaza City, the sprawling urban centre. More than half the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, with hundreds of thousands sheltering in packed U.N.-run schools-turned-shelters or in hospitals alongside thousands of wounded patients. Israeli strikes have hit closer to several northern hospitals in recent days, alarming medics.
Here’s what is happening in the latest Israel-Palestine war:
- Cyprus proposes sea corridor to deliver aid to Gaza
Cyprus is working out logistics with partners in the European Union and the Middle East to establish a sea corridor to deliver a stream of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza from the island’s main port of Limassol once the situation on the ground permits it, authorities said Tuesday. A senior government official — who spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to publicly discuss details of the proposal — said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wasn’t opposed” to the idea pitched by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides last week.
- NATO Chief warns against escalation of Mideast tensions
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said that Iran, Hezbollah and other groups must not abuse the current situation and escalate the tensions in the Middle East. “It is also important that this war does not escalate into a major regional conflict,” Stoltenberg said in Oslo, where he attended the annual meeting of the Nordic Council. “The suffering we have seen in recent weeks reminds us once again that we must not give up the work for a lasting, peaceful political solution to the conflict,” he said.
- Houthi rebels says they fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen issued a video statement on Tuesday claiming to have fired ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, saying it was the third such operation. They threatened to carry out more strikes “until the Israeli aggression stops.” The claims by the Houthis draw Iran closer into the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as Tehran remains a main sponsor.
Earlier this month, a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea intercepted three cruise missiles and several drones launched toward Israel by the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, including its capital, Sanaa. Mysterious projectiles have also struck inside Egypt, near the Israeli border. Iran has long denied arming the Houthis even as it has been transferring rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weaponry to the Yemeni militia using sea routes. Independent experts, Western nations and United Nations experts have traced components seized aboard other detained vessels back to Iran.
- WHO says services at hospital several reduced due to lack of power, supplies
The World Health Organization said services have been “severely reduced” at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the main facility treating cancer patients in Gaza, due to a lack of power and dwindling supplies. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, the agency said reports of airstrikes in the hospital’s vicinity over the past two days were “extremely concerning.” “Services have been severely reduced because of cut-off of electricity and restricted entry of medicines, other medical supplies, fuel and water,” the agency said.
- Hezbollah says it fired ant-tank missiles at Israeli forces
Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group says its fighters have fired anti-tank missiles toward an Israeli force along the border of the two countries. Hezbollah said its fighters scored direct hits Tuesday on the Israeli force that was laying an ambush along the border. Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been exchanging fire along the border following the Oct. 7 attack by the militant Hamas group on southern Israel.
- 219 people killed by Israel in the past day, says Gaza health ministry
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday it registered the deaths of at least 219 people in the past day, bringing the death toll to 8,525 since the war began. Spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said in a televised news conference that the fatalities include 3,542 children and 2,187 women. He said the main power generator in the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of Gaza, has stopped working due to a lack of fuel. He warned that more hospitals could go out of service in the coming days if fuel isn’t allowed into the besieged territory.
- Holocaust Memorial head derides ambassador for wearing Yellow Star of David
The chairman of Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, derided Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations for putting on a yellow Star of David patch during his address to the Security Council on Monday, saying it “belittles both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.” “The yellow patch symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people when it was at the mercy of others,” Dayan posted on X, formerly called Twitter. “Today we have an independent state and a strong army. We are masters of our fate. Today we put on our lapels the blue and white flag (of Israel), not a yellow patch.” Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow six-pointed Star of David patches during the Holocaust.
Biden administration urges immediate aid for Israel and Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make the case Tuesday that the United States should immediately send aid to Israel and Ukraine, testifying at a Senate hearing as the administration’s massive $105 billion emergency aid request for conflicts in those countries and others has already hit roadblocks in the divided Congress. (With AP inputs)
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