At least 40 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, medics say

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By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday, including two dozen when a residential building in the northern town of Jabalia was hit, Palestinian health officials and a human rights group said. 

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza said at least 24 people were killed when an Israeli strike destroyed the three-story building in Jabalia at dawn. Thirty other people from nearby houses were wounded, PCHR said in a statement.

Footage circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed about a dozen bodies wrapped in blankets and laid on the ground outside a hospital near Jabalia. Local media said they were the bodies of people killed in the attack on the residential building, which housed at least 30 people, according to residents.

The Israeli military said it struck a site in Jabalia in which “terrorists were operating.”

“These terrorists posed a threat to IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) troops operating in the area. The details are under review,” the Israel military said.

In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood on Sunday killed Wael Al-Khour, an official at the welfare ministry, as well as his wife, Khour, one son, two daughters and three grandchildren, medical officials and relatives said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its teams, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross, evacuated 20 patients from Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia on Sunday to another facility in Gaza City.

It said one of the patients died as the ambulances were held up for hours at an Israeli checkpoint separating northern Gaza areas from Gaza City.

The three hospitals in and around Jabalia have been besieged by Israeli forces for several weeks and hospital officials have refused army orders to evacuate the facilities or leave their patients unattended despite the depletion of food, medical and fuel supplies.

The Israeli military accuses Palestinian militant group Hamas of exploiting the civilian population and property in Gaza for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.

Hamas’ armed wing said it killed 15 Israeli soldiers in an attack in the city of Beit Lahiya, north of Jabalia, on Sunday.

There has been no comment from Israel and Reuters could not independently verify the account.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service says its operations have been halted by an ongoing Israeli raid on two towns and a refugee camp in northern Gaza that began on Oct. 5.

Israel says it sent forces since Oct. 5 into Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to fight Hamas militants waging attacks from there and to prevent them from regrouping. It says its troops have killed hundreds of militants in those areas since the new offensive began.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire between the two warring sides have failed so far, with Israel and Hamas trading blame.

Qatar, which has been trying to negotiate a ceasefire along with Egypt and the United States, has told Hamas and Israel it will suspend its efforts until both sides show “willingness and seriousness” to resume talks, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.

There was no official response from Hamas or Israel.

The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has levelled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, Palestinian health officials say.

(Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in JerusalemEditing by William Mallard, Frances Kerry, Sharon Singleton, Tomasz Janowski and Susan Fenton)