War between Israel and Hamas: At least 39 dead in Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 39 people were killed in Israeli strikes in northern Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian and hospital officials said, as rescue workers desperately searched for survivors under the rubble.

Fadel Naem, director of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told the Associated Press that more than three dozen bodies had arrived at the hospital. The Palestinian Civil Defense, an aid group active in Gaza, said its rescue workers were digging for survivors at the site of an attack in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City and recovered several dozen bodies from a building hit by an Israeli strike in an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City.

Israel said on Saturday that its fighter jets had attacked two Hamas military bases in the Gaza City area, but did not elaborate.

The deaths occur one day after at least 25 people were killed in attacks on tent camps and 50 wounded near the southern city of Rafah. Israel said on Saturday it was continuing to operate in central and southern Gaza and pressing ahead with its invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Most have now fled the city, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and the humanitarian situation is dire, with families living in tents and cramped housing without adequate food, water or medical care.

Another Israeli attack in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley on Saturday killed a member of the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), a Sunni Muslim faction closely allied with Hamas, the group said. The member was the seventh to be killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began.

The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel responded by bombing and invading the enclave, killing more than 37,400 Palestinians there, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.

Also on Saturday, the Israeli army announced that an Israeli man had been killed in the north West Bank City of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces shot dead two militants on Friday, the latest outbreak of violence in the area since the war between Israel and Hamas broken out.

At least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the area since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which tracks the killings. During the same period, Palestinians in the West Bank killed at least nine Israelis, including five soldiers, according to the UN.

Israeli citizens are prohibited from entering Qalqilya and other areas of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In April, the death of a 14-year-old Israeli settler sparked a Series of settler attacks on Palestinian towns in the area. The army said a Palestinian was later arrested in connection with the killing.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 12-year-old Palestinian boy had died of his injuries after being shot by Israeli forces in Ramallah last week. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces stormed the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah on Friday to arrest a suspect and then opened fire on a group of Palestinians who threw stones at them.

Israel said on Saturday it was investigating a separate incident involving the conduct of its soldiers after a video emerged online showing an injured Palestinian being transported on the hood of an Israeli armored vehicle in the northern West Bank. The army said the man in the video was a wanted suspect and was injured in an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces near the city of Jenin. The man was taken to a Red Crescent ambulance nearby, it said. The army said the behavior in the video did not reflect “the army’s values.”

Anger is growing across the country over the government’s handling of the war in Gaza and the hostage-taking.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv for new elections and demanded that the government release the hostages. Among the families were the parents of Naama Levy, an Israeli soldier who was celebrating her 20th birthday in captivity.

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Jeffery reported from Ramallah and Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war