Israel bombs areas of southern Gaza where it told Palestinians to flee, killing dozens of people: IDF says it was targeting Hamas hideouts
- At least 2,750 had been killed in Gaza and 9,600 injured as of October 16
Israel has bombed areas of southern Gaza where it told Palestinians to flee ahead of an expected invasion, killing dozens of people.
Violence along Israel’s border with Lebanon has also led to concerns over a widening regional conflict that diplomats have been working to prevent.
In Gaza, people wounded in the air strikes were rushed to hospital after heavy attacks outside the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, residents reported.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 in Khan Younis.
An Associated Press reporter saw around 50 bodies brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Family members came to claim the bodies, wrapped in white bedsheets, some soaked in blood.
An air strike in Deir al Balah reduced a house to rubble, killing nine members of the family living there. Three members of another family that had evacuated from Gaza City were killed in a neighbouring home. The dead included one man and 11 women and children. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centres.
A woman embraces the body of a Palestinian child killed in Israeli strikes, at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023
More than 1,000 children have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 7 (as of Monday)
Palestinians evacuate wounded from a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023
Palestinians attend the funeral prayer of the Palestinians who died during the Israeli airstrikes in Dair Al-Balah, Gaza on October 17, 2023
A Palestinian woman weeps after an Israeli airstrike on the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Palestinians rescue a girl from the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike at the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Relief convoys which have been waiting for days in Egypt were on October 17 headed towards the Rafah border crossing with the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, aid officials said
A Palestinian reacts amidst the rubble of a building after an Israeli airstrike on the Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Palestinian rescuers arrive at the scene after an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
‘When we see a target, when we see something moving that is Hamas, we’ll take care of it. We’ll handle it,’ said Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman.
However, Iran’s foreign minister warned that ‘pre-emptive action is possible’ if Israel moves closer to a ground offensive. Hossein Amirabdollahian’s threat followed a pattern of escalating rhetoric from Iran, which supports Hamas.
READ MORE: Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei warns ‘no one will be able to stop Muslims or resistance forces’ if Israel keep bombing Gaza – days after hundreds of thousands rallied to ex Hamas chief’s call for ‘Day of Jihad’
Israel has sealed off and bombed Hamas-ruled Gaza since the militant attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and left about 200 hostages held captive in Gaza.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,778 people and wounded 9,700 others in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry. Nearly two-thirds of the dead were children, said Medhat Abbas, a Gaza Health Ministry official.
The strikes have not stopped Hamas militants from continuing to attack Israel with rockets launched from Gaza.
Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed buried under the rubble, health authorities said.
Emergency teams struggled to rescue people while cut off from the internet and mobile networks, running out of fuel and exposed to unceasing air strikes.
On Monday, Israeli warplanes struck the headquarters of the Civil Defence in Gaza City, killing seven paramedics. Another 10 medics and doctors have been killed on the job, health authorities said.
Israel has massed troops at the border for an expected ground offensive, but Mr Hecht said on Tuesday that no concrete decisions have been made.
‘These plans are being developed. They will be decided by, and presented to, our political leadership,’ he said.
The combination of air strikes, dwindling necessities caused by Israel’s blockade, and Israel’s mass evacuation order for the north of the Gaza Strip has thrown the tiny territory’s 2.3 million people into upheaval and caused increasing desperation.
More than 1 million Palestinians have fled their homes, and 60% are now in the approximately eight-mile area south of the evacuation zone, the UN said. Aid workers warned that the territory was near complete collapse with ever-decreasing supplies of water and medicine and with power running out at hospitals.
A Palestinian man wounded in Israeli strikes on houses reacts with a boy in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2023
At least 2,750 had been killed in Gaza and 9,600 injured as of October 16, amid a hurried evacuation from the north. Pictured: a Palestinian boy reacts at the site of strikes on houses in Rafah, October 17
Palestinians arrive at the scene after an Israeli strike on a building in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
A Palestinian woman reacts as others rush to look for victims in the rubble of a building following an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Palestinians evacuate a victim following an Israeli airstrike on the Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Palestinians search the rubble as others evacuate a victim following an Israeli airstrike on buildings in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to go into the tiny, densely populated territory, and trapped civilians – many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities – were hoping desperately to get out.
Mediators were trying to reach a ceasefire to open the border, which shut down last week after Israeli air strikes. An agreement appeared to have been reached on Monday, but Israel denied reports of a ceasefire in Rafah, which would be needed to open the gates. On Tuesday morning, they were still closed.
General Erik Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli military authorities ahead of a Biden visit planned for Wednesday to signal White House support for Israel.
Mr Biden will also travel to Jordan to meet Arab leaders amid fears the fighting could expand into a broader regional conflict as fighting intensified along Israel’s border with Lebanon.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel for the second time in a week on Monday after a six-country tour through Arab nations, said in Tel Aviv that the US and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
There were few details, but the plan would include ‘the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way’, he said.
In Gaza, hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes searched for bread.
With taps dry, many rationed the little clean water available and others resorted to drinking dirty or sewage-filled water, risking the spread of disease.
The Israeli military said it was trying to clear civilians for their safety ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in Gaza’s north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels and rocket launchers. Much of Hamas’ military infrastructure is in residential areas.
Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
Israel fought a vicious month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006 that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente between the two sides.
Speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah: ‘Don’t test us in the north. Don’t make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier.’
Soon after he spoke, the Knesset floor was evacuated as rockets headed toward Jerusalem. Sirens in Tel Aviv prompted US and Israeli officials to take shelter in a bunker, officials said.
Palestinians react, at the site of Israeli strikes on houses, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 17, 2023
Israel has sealed off and bombed Hamas-ruled Gaza since the militant attack on southern Israel on October 7
Bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes lie at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023
Civil defense teams and residents launch a search and rescue operation around the buildings that were destroyed after Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced by the brutal bombardment of the enclave
Civil defense teams and residents carry injured people as they launch a search and rescue operation around the buildings that were destroyed in Rafah, Gaza on October 17, 2023
Teams hurry to rescue civilians caught in the Israeli bombardment of Rafah on October 17
The Israeli military said on Monday at least 199 hostages were taken into Gaza, more than previously estimated. Hamas said it was holding 200 to 250 hostages.
Hamas’ military wing released a hostage video showing a dazed woman having her arm wrapped with bandages. The woman, who identified herself as Mia Schem, 21, rocked slightly as she spoke, the sound of explosions reverberating in the background.
The plight of the hostages has dominated the Israeli media since the attack, with interviews with their relatives playing on television almost constantly. Israeli officials have vowed to maintain the siege of Gaza until the hostages are released.
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