Gaza’s civil defence company mentioned on Sunday that Israeli strikes killed a minimum of 35 Palestinians throughout the territory, greater than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas struggle.
The violence got here whilst Palestinian teams concerned within the combating mentioned a ceasefire deal was “nearer than ever”.
Israel has confronted rising criticism of its actions through the struggle, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault, together with from rights teams accusing it of “acts of genocide” which the Israeli authorities strongly denies.
Pope Francis denounced on Sunday the “cruelty” of Israel’s bombardment, highlighting the deaths of youngsters and assaults on colleges and hospitals in Gaza.
It was his second such remark in as many days, regardless of Israel’s accusing the pontiff of “double requirements”.
On the bottom in Gaza, civil defence company spokesman Mahmud Bassal mentioned a minimum of 13 folks have been killed in an air strike on a home in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah belonging to the Abu Samra household.
An AFP photographer noticed residents looking out by the particles for survivors, whereas others appeared for belongings they might salvage.
In a close-by compound, our bodies lined in blankets lay on the sandy floor.
The army mentioned it focused an Islamic Jihad militant who was working in Deir el-Balah.
“In keeping with an preliminary examination, the reported variety of casualties ensuing from the strike doesn’t align with the data held by the IDF (army),” it mentioned to AFP in a press release, which didn’t give its personal toll.
“We’re… shedding family members daily,” mentioned Deir el-Balah resident Naim al-Ramlawi.
“I pray to God {that a} truce will likely be reached quickly” and would enable Gazans to lastly “reside an honest life, as an alternative of this depressing life”, he mentioned.
The army additionally confirmed a separate strike additional north, on a faculty in Gaza Metropolis.
Bassal mentioned eight folks together with 4 youngsters have been killed within the assault on the college, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the struggle.
It was the newest of quite a few comparable strikes towards schools-turned-shelters through the struggle.
The army says the services are utilized by Hamas Palestinian militants.
On this case it mentioned it carried out a “exact strike” that focused a Hamas “command and management centre” inside the college compound.
– ‘Vital danger’ at hospital –
AFP photographs confirmed mangled concrete slabs and iron beams strewn amid patches of blood on the broken college constructing.
Bassal mentioned in a press release {that a} separate strike, in a single day into Sunday, killed three folks in Rafah, within the south.
And a drone strike on Sunday morning hit a automobile in Gaza Metropolis, killing 4 folks, the spokesman added.
Late on Sunday, the civil defence company mentioned seven folks have been killed when Israeli drones struck tents within the humanitarian space of Al-Mawasi in western Khan Yunis, whereas the Israeli army mentioned it had focused a “Hamas terrorist”.
Israel in early October started a serious army operation in Gaza’s north, which it mentioned aimed to stop Hamas from regrouping there.
A United Nations official who visited Gaza Metropolis mentioned late final month that individuals have been dwelling in “inhumane circumstances with extreme meals shortages and horrible sanitary circumstances”.
On Sunday a hospital director in northern Gaza mentioned Israeli forces have been bombing buildings close to the ability.
Hossam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, mentioned in a press release that the ability’s turbines have been hit and that “the military is making an attempt to focus on the gasoline tank, which is filled with gasoline and poses a big fireplace danger.”
Contacted by AFP, the army mentioned it was unaware of any strikes on the hospital, one in every of solely two nonetheless working in northern Gaza.
The unprecedented Hamas assault final 12 months that sparked the struggle resulted within the deaths of 1,208 folks, most of them civilians, in response to an AFP tally based mostly on official Israeli figures.
Militants additionally took 251 hostages, of whom 96 stay in Gaza, together with 34 the Israeli army says are lifeless.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed a minimum of 45,259 folks, a majority of them civilians, in response to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry that the United Nations considers dependable.
Hamas and two different Palestinian armed teams mentioned in a uncommon joint assertion on Saturday that an settlement to finish the bloodshed was “nearer than ever”, after Qatari-hosted talks that adopted months of stalled negotiations.
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