Cairo, Egypt
Reuters
Dozens of people were killed and wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on Sunday, Palestinian medics said.
Footage circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed about a dozen bodies wrapped in blankets and laid on the ground at a hospital. Residents said the building that was hit had housed at least 30 people.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on 10th November, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hassan Al-Zaanin.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA and Hamas media put the number of people killed at 32. There was no immediate confirmation of the tally by the territory’s health ministry.
Later on Sunday, 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..
The military accused Hamas of exploiting civilian population and property for military purpose, a charge the militant group denies.
The Hamas armed wing said it attacked 15 Israeli soldiers with an anti-tank rocket before it “finished them off” by grenades and light weapons from a close range in Beit Lahiya. There was no Israeli comment and Reuters could not independently verify the account.
AT LEAST 23 KILLED IN ISRAELI STRIKE ON LEBANON’S ALMAT, MINISTRY SAYS, WHILE SYRIA SAYS SEVEN CIVILIANS KILLED IN STRIKE NEAR DAMASCUS
At least 23 people, including seven children, were killed and six others injured in an Israeli strike on Almat in Lebanon’s Mount Lebanon province, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday, adding that the death toll was likely to climb.
Three people were also killed and two others wounded in an Israeli strike on Mashghara in the western part of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley late on Saturday, while one person was killed and four others injured in a strike on Sahmar, also in western Bekaa, that occurred the same night, the health ministry added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it is targeting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven civilians on Sunday, the Syrian defence ministry said, in the second such attack in less than a week.
The fatalities included women and children, with 20 people also injured, the ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which said last week that its air force had struck intelligence assets of the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the same area.
Sayeda Zainab, a stronghold of Hezbollah and the site of a major Shi’ite shrine, has been the target in previous strikes. The heavily garrisoned area near the shrine is also a well known stronghold of Hezbollah, which is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chief allies.
Israel has ramped up strikes in Syria since the Oct. 7 attack by militant group Hamas on Israel in 2023 and particularly since the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed scores of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city.
– ADAM MAKARY and MENNA ALAA, Beirut, Lebanon, and SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI, KINDA MAKIEH AND HATEM MAHER/Reuters
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service says its operations have been halted by an ongoing Israeli raid into two towns and a refugee camp in northern Gaza that began on 5th October. It could not provide a figure for those killed in the attack.
Israel says it sent forces into Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in the north of the enclave 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.
In Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra neighbourhood killed Wael Al-Khour, an official at the welfare ministry, and seven other members of his family including his wife and children on Sunday, medics and relatives said.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Efforts to reach a ceasefire between the two warring sides have failed so far, with Israel and Hamas trading blame. Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war and a prisoner-for-hostages deal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will only stop once Hamas is eradicated.
A Palestinian man reacts as he is consoled at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on 10th November, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hassan Al-Zaanin.
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.
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The three nations have spent months on fruitless talks between the warring sides in Gaza and any disengagement from that process could further complicate efforts to reach a deal.
There was no official response from Hamas or Israel.
The war erupted on 7th October, 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.
– Additional reporting by ARI RABINOVITCH in Jerusalem
