Israeli strikes cause explosions in Beirut suburbs and kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza, doctors say

On By Pranco

Wafaa Shurafa
| Associated press

Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip – Israeli airstrikes hit a cafeteria and a house in Gaza, killing at least 14 people, medical officials said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut on Tuesday after the army ordered the evacuation of a number of houses there.

The new bombardment on both fronts comes on the brink of a deadline the United States has set for Israel to dramatically increase humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military financing. A group of eight international aid agencies said in a report on Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet US demands.

In Lebanon, large explosions rocked the southern outskirts of Beirut – an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence – shortly after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for 11 homes there.

There was no immediate word on the victims. The military said the houses contained Hezbollah installations, but the claim could not be independently confirmed.

Late Monday evening, the village of Ain Yaacoub in northern Lebanon was hit by an attack, killing at least 16 people, the Lebanese Civil Defense said. Four of the dead were Syrian refugees, and another ten people were injured. There was no immediate Israeli military comment on the attack.

Israel has been carrying out intensive bombing of Lebanon since late September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end the Lebanese militant group’s more than year-long cross-border fire on northern Israel.

At the same time, Israel has continued its campaign in Gaza, now more than thirteen months old, following Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

An Israeli strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the center of a “humanitarian zone” the Israeli army declared earlier in the war.

At least 11 people, including two children, were killed, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the victims were taken. Video footage from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded people from tables and chairs set up in the sand in a room made of corrugated iron.

Another attack struck a house in the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in central Gaza early Tuesday, killing three people, including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the victims. Eleven others were also injured in the attack, the report said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the attacks.

Hours earlier, the Israeli military announced a small expansion of the humanitarian zone where it had ordered Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely deserted area of ​​dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast of southern Gaza.

Israeli forces have also been besieging the northernmost part of Gaza since early October, battling Hamas fighters who are said to have regrouped there.

With virtually no food or aid coming in for more than a month, the siege has raised fears of famine among the tens of thousands of Palestinians believed to still be sheltering there.

An October 13 letter signed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave the Israeli 30 days to, among other things, allow at least 350 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza every day.

So far, Israel has fallen short. According to Israeli figures, an average of 57 trucks entered Gaza per day in October, and 70 per day in the ten days of November. The UN estimates the number to be lower, at 37 trucks per day since early October.

Israel has announced a series of measures in recent days to increase aid, including opening a new border crossing into central Gaza. But so far the impact is unclear.

The army said on Tuesday it had allowed hundreds of parcels of food and water into Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun, two besieged areas in the far north of Gaza. The Palestinian Civil Defense Agency said three trucks carrying flour, canned food and water reached Beit Hanoun.

It was only the second delivery to the area since early October; A smaller shipment was allowed in last week, although not all reached shelters in the north, according to the UN

The military announced on Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in Jabaliya, bringing to 24 the number of soldiers killed in the attack there since it began. Palestinian health officials say hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, although the actual numbers are unknown as rescuers are unable to reach buildings destroyed during strikes. Israel has ordered residents of the area to evacuate. But the UN estimates that around 70,000 people remain.

Many Palestinians there fear that Israel aims to permanently depopulate the area to make it easier to control. Witnesses told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Israeli forces had surrounded at least three schools in Beit Hanoun, forcing hundreds of displaced people sheltering there to leave.

Drones blared announcements demanding people move south to Gaza City, Mahmoud al-Kafarnah said, speaking from one of the schools as sounds of gunfire could be heard. “The tanks are outside,” he said. “We don’t know where to go.”

Hashim Afanah, who sheltered in his family home with at least 20 other people, said the troops were driving people from homes and shelters.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count but say more than half of the dead are women and children. Israel says it is targeting Hamas militants, accusing the militant group of civilian deaths, and says it is active in residential areas and infrastructure, and among displaced people.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250 hostages. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Associated Press reporters Samy Magdy in Cairo and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.