Witnesses: Israeli attack kills eight people in Gaza aid center

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of the Mawasi refugee camp northwest of the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, sparking heavy fighting with Hamas-led fighters, residents said.

Images of two Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop overlooking the coastal region went viral on social media, but Reuters could not independently verify them.

“The fighting with the resistance was fierce. The occupying forces now control the Mawasi area, forcing families there to move to Khan Younis,” a resident who wished to remain anonymous said on a chat app.

More than eight months after Israel began its war in the Hamas-administered Palestinian enclave, its advance is focused on the two areas its forces have not yet captured: Rafah at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip and the area around Deir al-Balah in the center.

Residents reported that Israeli tanks had advanced deeper into the west and north of Rafah in recent days, blowing up dozens of houses.

The Israeli military said it continued to conduct “intelligence-based targeted operations” in the Rafah area, locating weapons caches and tunnel shafts and killing Palestinian gunmen.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank missiles and mortar shells, as well as planted explosive devices.

Elsewhere, an Israeli airstrike killed eight Palestinians in Sabra, a suburb of northern Gaza City, and another attack killed two people in Nuseirat in central Gaza.

The military said it had attacked dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian health officials said on Saturday that at least 40 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in some northern districts of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said it had attacked Hamas’ military infrastructure there. Hamas said the targets were civilians.

In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said a baby had died of malnutrition, bringing the number of children who have died of malnutrition or dehydration since October 7 to at least 30. The figure, health officials said, reflects under-reporting.

The Israeli ground and air offensive in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the incursion of Hamas-led militants into southern Israel on October 7. According to Israeli sources, they killed around 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages.

The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, with Palestinian health authorities saying more than 37,400 people have been killed and almost the entire population has been left homeless and destitute.