Israeli attacks on southern Gaza kill 38 people

By BASSEM MROUE and WAFAA SHURAFA

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli attacks on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people on Friday, Palestinian health officials said, including 13 children from the same extended family.

In northern Gaza, health officials reported that Israeli forces had raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the area. Israel has renewed its policy offensive against Hamas in the north in recent weeks, and that includes aid groups raise the alarm because of the dire humanitarian conditions.

In Lebanon, Israel attacks the southeast of the country three journalists murdered work for news outlets believed to be linked to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its patron, Iran.

Israeli attacks kill dozens of people in Khan Younis

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli airstrikes and shelling hit the southern town of Khan Younis, killing 38 people and wounding dozens.

The Israeli military, which has said troops are attacking Hamas fighters in the southern city, did not respond to questions about Friday’s attack on several residential buildings. Palestinians said the neighborhood was hit without warning. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Palestinian Civil Defense footage showed rescuers pulling the bloodied bodies of nine children from the al-Farra family from the ruins.

The victims were taken to both the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis and the European Hospital, where records showed that at least 15 members of the al-Farra family had been killed. Six members of the Abdeen family were also killed, health officials said.

Saleh al-Farra, who lost his 17-year-old brother and 15-year-old sister in the attack, said the shaking from the bombardment caused his relatives to run to the center of the house for shelter. Before he knew it, he said, he woke up in the rubble of what had been his home.

“I started screaming and yelling until my brother and father came, and they started pulling me out,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about anyone.”

Israeli forces intensify operations around the hospital in northern Gaza

In response to reports that it had stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Israeli army said only that it was operating “in the area” of the hospital based on intelligence indicating the presence of fighters and fighter infrastructure.

The children’s hospital is one of three medical facilities in the area that remain somewhat operational after more than a year of war. Since the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of hospitals amid the renewed attack on Hamas fighters in northern Gaza, doctors have warned that severe shortages of food, medicine and other supplies had created a humanitarian emergency.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry said Israeli forces on Friday rounded up medical staff and displaced persons sheltering in the hospital and forced the men to undress, a common practice that Israel says is intended to ensure detainees do not hide weapons. The ministry said some Palestinians were detained, without specifying how many.

The Palestinian Civil Defense said Israeli forces arrested two of its workers, including a local rescue coordinator and a firefighter. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrests.

The World Health Organization said Friday it had lost contact with staff at Kamal Adwan, where some had been the night before to deliver supplies and help transfer patients to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

“This development is deeply worrying given the number of patients being helped and the people being sheltered there,” WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X about the loss of communication.

Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya could not be reached on Friday. In voice messages sent late Thursday, Abu Safiya claimed the hospital was under Israeli tank fire. The Israeli army denied that a tank fired on the hospital.

“Patients are still on the floors of the reception and emergency departments, many in critical condition. There are no resources, supplies or specialists to save the lives of these children,” Abu Safiya said in his voice message. “We appeal to the world to intervene and save our hospitals.”

The United Nations has said hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in northern Gaza, with little food or supplies, as Israeli forces close in on the town of Jabaliya. The UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday that Israeli military actions in the north “risk emptying the area of ​​all Palestinians.”

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – in which Palestinian terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged another 250 back into Gaza – many hospitals in Gaza have been attacked. Kamal Adwan was besieged and ambushed by Israeli forces a year ago.

The Israeli military accuses Hamas fighters of using hospitals and tunnels beneath them as bases. Hamas and Palestinian doctors have repeatedly denied this claim.

More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. The Health Ministry did not say how many fighters there were, but said women and children made up more than half of the fatalities. The Israeli army says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The Israeli army announced on Friday that three more soldiers had been killed in Gaza this week, without providing details. That brings to 359 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.

Three journalists are killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon

Thick dust kicked up by the latest airstrikes on Lebanon-coated cars marked ‘PRESS’ parked outside a residence where journalists stayed. Friday’s attack destroyed buildings in southeastern Lebanon – an area spared from Israel’s heavy bombing and invasion – and killed three journalists.

Al-Manar TV, operated by Hezbollah, and Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, a channel seen as linked to the militant group, said its staffers were among the dead.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack. Lebanon’s health minister said on Friday that 11 journalists have been killed and eight wounded since Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah began exchanging cross-border fire in October 2023.

At least two people were killed by shrapnel during a rocket fire from Lebanon on Friday in northern Israel, according to Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency service. The rockets struck Majd Al-Krum, an Arab city in the north of the country, and hit a gym. Six others were injured, rescuers added, including an 80-year-old man who remained in serious condition.

Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press journalists Mohammed Zaatari in Hasbaya, Lebanon, and Adam Schreck in Jerusalem reported.

Originally published: October 25, 2024 at 10:19 am