Updated: 10:45am (AEDT)
Cairo, Egypt
Reuters
Israeli tanks pushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Palestinian medics said further Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people across the enclave.
Residents said tanks advanced one day after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian militants from the area.
Displaced Palestinians make their way as they flee the northern part of Gaza, amid an Israeli military operation, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on 4th December, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas.
With shells crashing near residential areas, families left their homes and headed westward towards the nearby humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.
Later on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike at a tent encampment in al-Mawasi killed at least 17 people and wounded several others, medics said. The Civil Emergency Service said the attack set several tents housing displaced families ablaze.
Another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least 10 people and wounding many others, the territory’s emergency service said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations underway.
Medics said 11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been queuing outside a bakery, they said.
A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the information given by Palestinian medics.
Israeli forces also fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza for the fifth straight day, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night, he said.
ISRAEL SAYS DEATHS OF SIX HOSTAGES IN GAZA PROBABLY LINKED TO ISRAELI STRIKE
The deaths of six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza in August were probably linked to an Israeli airstrike against Hamas near where they were being held, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.
“At the time of the strike, the military had no information, not even a suspicion, that the hostages were in the underground compound or its vicinity,” the military said in a statement about the investigation into the hostages’ deaths.
“Had such information been available, the strike would not have been carried out.”
The statement said it was “highly probable that their deaths were related to the strike near the location where they were held”, although the precise circumstances were still not clear.
The military said the airstrike occurred in February while the bodies of the hostages were recovered in late August.
The most plausible scenario was that they were shot by Palestinian militants around the time of the strike, it said. It was also possible that they had already been killed previously, or that they were shot after they were already dead.
“Due to the extended time that had passed, it was not possible to determine clearly the cause of the death of hostages or the exact timing of the gunfire.”
An Israeli military official said in a briefing with reporters that one change the military has implemented since the hostage bodies were retrieved in August is ensuring hostages are not in the vicinity before ordering a strike against militants.
The official said the military’s understanding was that the militants targeted in February “were killed from secondary effects of our strike”, like lack of oxygen, but that many particulars of the event could not be entirely confirmed.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, which advocates for the return of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages still believed held by militants in Gaza, said the findings “serve as yet another proof that the lives of hostages face constant, daily danger … Time is of the essence.”
– EMILY ROSE, Jerusalem/Reuters
Drone strikes
“Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure and anyone that dares to move,” said Abu Safiya. “This situation is extremely urgent.”
Residents in three towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun – said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.
Palestinians say Israel’s army is trying to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli army denies this and says it has returned to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in an area where it had previously cleared them out.
The army says militants frequently use residential buildings, schools and hospitals for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminate attacks.
Israel launched its offensive in the densely populated enclave after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on 7th October, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 44,400 Palestinians, injured many others, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week that halted fighting in a conflict that has unfolded in Lebanon in parallel with the Gaza war.
But the war in Gaza has ground on with only a single ceasefire more than a year ago that lasted for one week.
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Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Wednesday it had retrieved the body of Itay Svirsky, who was taken hostage on 7th October, 2023, and then killed in Hamas captivity, according to a statement from the Israeli military.
A statement from the Hostages’ Families Forum, which represents families of those being held by Hamas, said that returning “Itay’s body for proper burial in Israel provides crucial closure for his family”.
A statement from the military said the family had been notified.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Svirsky’s body had been retrieved in a special operation and he thanked Israeli security forces.
“Our hearts are torn over the heavy loss of the Svirsky family,” Netanyahu said.
– With EMILY ROSE
