Israel launches new attacks in northern Gaza, killing at least 39 people

At least 39 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

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

Fadel Naem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, said more than three dozen bodies had arrived at the hospital.

The Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD), an emergency aid organization active in Gaza, said its rescue workers are digging for survivors at the site of an attack in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

PCD also said it had recovered several dozen bodies from a building in an eastern neighborhood of Gaza City that was hit by an Israeli attack.

Israel also announced that its fighter jets had attacked two Hamas military sites in the Gaza City area today.

It was also announced that an Israeli was shot dead in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces shot dead two militants yesterday.

The fatalities came a day earlier when at least 25 people were killed and 50 injured in attacks on tent camps near the southern city of Rafah.

Israel said on Saturday it was continuing its operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip and proceeding with the invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

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Most have now fled the city, but the United Nations says that nowhere in Gaza is safe anymore and the humanitarian situation is catastrophic, with families forced to live in tents and cramped apartments without adequate food, water and medical care.

A separate Israeli attack on Saturday in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley killed a member of the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (also known as the Islamic Group), a Sunni Muslim faction closely allied with Hamas, the group said.

The member was the seventh to be killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the war began.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which tracks the number of killings, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the area since the war began.

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 territory. 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.