Israeli airstrikes kill at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

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By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least 33 Palestinians on Wednesday, most of them in an airstrike on a house in Beit Lahiya town on the northern edge of the enclave, medics said.

The Beit Lahiya strike killed at least 22 people, including women and children, health officials said. Relatives listed the names of the dead on social media.

More than 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was struck, and several family members remained missing as rescue operations continued through the morning, the Palestinian WAFA news agency said.

The Israeli military told Reuters it had launched a strike targeting Hamas militants near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is located between Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, towns on the northern edge of Gaza under Israeli siege for two months.

It said it was continuing to examine the incident but described the number of fatalities reported by Palestinian medics and media as “inaccurate” and not aligning with the army’s information.

In nearby Beit Hanoun, also part of the area under siege, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed and wounded several people, without giving an exact toll. Rescue workers said several people were trapped under rubble.

Earlier on Wednesday, at least seven Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, medics told Reuters.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service and medics said four other people were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes on two houses in Gaza City, including journalist Eman Al-Shanti and her son. She was the 193rd journalist killed by Israel since the start of the war, the Palestinian Union of Journalists said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that two rockets were fired from the central Gaza Strip into Israel but fell in open areas and caused no injuries. It demonstrated the ability of Gaza militants to continue to stage rocket attacks despite 14 months of devastating Israeli aerial and ground offensives.

Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military ordered residents in the Al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza to evacuate, citing rocket launches from the area. It urged them to head towards a humanitarian-designated zone near the Mediterranean coast.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the devastated enclave. Israel says harm to civilians is a consequence of the Palestinian militant group Hamas of hiding among them, which Hamas denies.

Fighting has focused on the north, where Israeli forces have been operating in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia since Oct. 5.

Israel says it is fighting to prevent Hamas militants regrouping and waging attacks from those areas. Palestinian officials and residents accuse Israel of seeking to depopulate the area to create a buffer zone on Gaza’s northern edge, which Israel denies.

Israel and Hamas have been waging war since Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The attack triggered Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 44,800 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities say.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Christina Fincher, Ros Russell, Peter Graff)