Fifteen dead in recent Israeli air strikes on Gaza

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and many injured in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, the Wafa news agency reported on Friday.

According to medical sources, two people were killed and twelve injured in a nighttime attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Several people were injured when a tank opened fire on positions in the two camps Al Moghazi and Bureij.

An airstrike in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza killed one man and injured others.

An airstrike on a house in the Al Zeitoun district of Gaza City left eight people dead and several injured.

The injured were taken to Al Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as Al Maamadani Hospital, Wafa reported.

Two days after their home in Nuseirat was destroyed by Israeli warplanes, emergency teams recovered the bodies of three children and their mother from under the rubble.

Local sources said the Israeli military bombed buildings in the Al Saudi neighborhood in the southern city of Rafah.

Israeli tanks also fired on eastern areas of Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip, while artillery fire hit northern areas of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

At least 37,431 Palestinians have been killed and 85,653 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, according to an update from the enclave’s Health Ministry on Thursday.

The Israeli army said on Friday that two soldiers were killed and three reserve soldiers were seriously injured in fighting in central Gaza.

The latest bloody clash between Israel and Hamas was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Palestinian militants on southern Israel on October 7. According to a count by the AFP news agency based on official Israeli figures, 1,194 people were killed, most of them civilians.

The militants also captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in the Gaza Strip. However, the Israeli army reports 41 deaths.

Help situation

In addition to the high number of civilian deaths, Israel’s closure of border crossings with the Gaza Strip has slowed aid deliveries and led to severe shortages of fuel, food and water.

The US military has re-established a makeshift pier on a beach in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian supplies have resumed.

“US Central Command personnel re-anchored and restored the temporary pier to Gaza Beach yesterday,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday.

“Israeli engineers provided the necessary assistance to ensure the safe placement of the pier on the beach.”

The pier was removed last week to prevent damage from rough seas.

Major General Ryder said more than 656 tonnes of aid had been delivered to a Gaza rail yard since the re-deployment overnight.

The pier, which cost the United States at least $230 million, was intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza through the United Nations World Food Programme, but it encountered setbacks.

Tensions between Israel and Lebanon

As air strikes on the Gaza Strip continue, tensions and more violent clashes are rising along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel against escalating tensions with Lebanon. Hezbollah had previously fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel, increasing fears of a larger regional war.

At a meeting with senior Israeli officials in Washington, Blinken “stressed the importance of avoiding further escalation in Lebanon and reaching a diplomatic solution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes,” the State Department said.

There have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military on the Lebanese-Israeli border, with more than 400 people killed in Lebanon since October 8.

Most of the fatalities were combatants, but more than 80 civilians and non-combatants were also killed. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed in the last eight months.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after Israel killed Hezbollah’s top commander last week.

The group retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets into northern Israel.

Updated: June 21, 2024, 06:14