Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 18 Palestinians

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 44,930

By AFP - Dec 15,2024 - Last updated at Dec 15,2024

Palestinians check the damage in an area targeted by an Israeli air strike early on December 12, 2024 near the Nuseirat refugee in central Gaza, amid the continuing Israeli war of aggression against the Strip (AFP photo)

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Gaza's civil defence agency reported Sunday that overnight Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 18 people, including four displaced individuals who had sought refuge in a tent.

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that rescuers working through the night recovered the bodies of 18 people. He said dozens more were injured in the "ongoing aggression and Israeli aerial and artillery bombardment" across Gaza.

The dead included at least three children, Bassal said.

He said four people were killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in central Gaza City.

Another four were killed, and eight injured, when an Israeli missile hit a tent sheltering dozens of displaced people in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

AFP photographs showed heart-wrenching scenes as relatives retrieved the bodies of their loved ones from a hospital in Gaza City, while others killed lay on the floor covered in blankets.

On Saturday, Bassal said that Deir El Balah's mayor, Diab Al Jaro, was killed in a similar strike.

The Israeli military later claimed responsibility for that attack, saying Jaro had been "an operative in Hamas's military wing".

On Sunday, the military confirmed it had carried out strikes in the Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia areas.

"The troops struck dozens of terrorists from both the air and ground and additional terrorists were apprehended" in Beit Hanoun, it said.

"In Beit Lahia, troops eliminated terrorists and located and dismantled large quantities of weapons, including explosives and dozens of grenades," Israel's military said.

The statement did not specify when these operations took place.

Separately, the military reported targeting a clinic in northern Gaza, saying Hamas used it as a "command and control centre" and storage site for weapons.

Healthcare in crisis

The war has displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million population, with many people forced to flee multiple times.

The Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping operation in northern Gaza for several weeks, stating that its objective is to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.

Gaza's civil defence agency reports that the operation has resulted in hundreds of deaths, while the Israeli military says it has killed dozens of militants.

Medics in Gaza report severe shortages of medicines in hospitals amid the ongoing military assault.

The fighting has also resulted in casualties among medical workers, further straining the healthcare system.

"We are suffering from a shortage of medical staff as a result of the targeting and the martyrdom of a large number of doctors and nurses," said Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, in a statement to journalists.

He said Israeli air strikes and shelling continued to target the hospital and surrounding areas, exacerbating the crisis and endangering both patients and staff.

Israel's military has denied targeting the hospital directly.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,976 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

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