Israeli strikes have killed at least 17 Palestinians in Gaza as the war enters the new year
Israeli airstrikes on the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza and the northern town of Jabalia killed at least 17 Palestinians on Wednesday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment although, in a post on X, its Arab spokesman had earlier warned residents of Al-Burei to evacuate ahead of an imminent attack on militants firing rockets from the area.
It was also said overnight to have killed Abd al-Hadi Sabah, a Hamas militant who helped lead the infiltration of Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Islamist group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
The order to clear the Al-Bureij camp sparked a new wave of displacement, although it was not immediately clear how many people were affected.
WAFA said the army blew up residential blocks in Beit Lahija and in and around Jabalia, while tanks shelled parts of Gaza City and Al-Bureij camp.
Israel says its nearly three-month campaign in northern Gaza is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping. His instructions to civilians to evacuate are meant to protect them from danger, the military says.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say that no place is safe in Gaza and that the evacuations are worsening the humanitarian conditions of the population.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, more than 1,500 tents sheltering displaced people across Gaza were flooded by heavy rains over the past two days, leaving people exposed to the cold and their belongings damaged.
Hundreds more tents experienced less severe flooding that still left displaced people unable to use them.
Much of the area around the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and leveled, fueling speculation that Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone after the fighting in Gaza ends.
There is no end in sight
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and much of the tiny coastal strip is in ruins.
In the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, 1,200 people died, while another 251 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli data.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in densely populated areas. The army claims to have killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
An Israeli raid closed a major hospital in Gaza on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris says this ‘vital’ lifeline for local Palestinians is gone.
The war caused widespread destruction and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent rainstorms and nighttime temperatures drop below 10C. At least six infants and another person have died of hypothermia, according to the Ministry of Health.
American and Arab mediators spent nearly a year trying to broker a truce and the release of the hostages, but those efforts repeatedly stalled.
Hamas has demanded a permanent ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until “total victory” over the militants.
