Israeli aviation and artillery bombarded the Gaza Strip on Monday as it continued its military offensive against the enclave.
The artillery fire hit Tal Al Hawa and other parts of the city, media correspondents reported. In central Gaza, witnesses said the Israeli army shelled areas including the outskirts of Nuseirat refugee camp.
A hospital source said three people were killed in a strike on a house in the town of Deir al-Balah, also in the centre of the coastal territory, after medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent said they retrieved the bodies of five people after Israeli airstrikes in the nearby al-Maghazi camp.
In southern Gaza, eyewitnesses reported artillery fire and helicopter strikes east of the town of Khan Younis and in western neighbourhoods of Rafah, near the Egyptian border.
Raids in Gaza
The Israeli military said it continued to operate throughout the country and conducted raids in Rafah and central Gaza over the past day, killing “several” militants, as well as carrying out airstrikes across the Strip.
The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October that killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli-based AFP figures. The Palestinian group Hamas also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 who the Israeli military believes are dead.
Israel responded with a military offensive that killed at least 38,664 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. As of Monday, 80 people had been killed in 24 hours, the ministry said.
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday, citing the movement’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh, that the group was suspending participation in indirect ceasefire talks partly because of Israeli “massacres of unarmed civilians”.
Hamas is “ready” to return to talks when Israel “demonstrates seriousness” in reaching an agreement, the official said.
The comment came after Gaza’s health ministry said at least 92 people were killed and 300 injured in a strike on al-Mawasi, a “safe zone” on the coast designated by Israel.
The Israeli strike killed Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’ military wing, as well as a fighter described by the Israeli military as one of Deif’s closest associates.
Massive population displacement
Last week, US President Joe Biden suggested a truce agreement could be close, telling a NATO summit that both sides had agreed to a framework he outlined in late May.
Hamas lashed out at the US on Monday, accusing it of supporting “genocide” by supplying arms to Israel. The US provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel each year. A statement from the Hamas government media office said:
We condemn in the strongest terms the American disdain for the blood of the children and women of our Palestinian people.
Qatar and Egypt mediated the talks, with U.S. support, but months of negotiations have failed to produce a breakthrough.
Critics in Israel, including demonstrators who have at times taken out tens of thousands of marchers to demand a deal to release hostages, have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war.
The war has displaced almost the entire population of the territory, many of whom have sought refuge in schools, six of which have been hit by strikes since July 6.
Attack on Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets bombed targets in the village of Ayta ash Shab and the town of Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Warplanes resumed raids on Ayta ash Shab, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. According to the agency, the airstrike destroyed a house in the town of Meiss El Jabal in the Marjayoun neighbourhood, no one was injured.
The Electricity of Lebanon company said the Israeli army launched an artillery strike on the Marjayoun power plant on Saturday, “causing severe damage to transformers, cells and high-voltage networks, putting them out of service.”
The company added that it is assessing the technical and engineering condition of the plant to take appropriate measures. Following the exchange of cross-border attacks, fears of a full-scale war between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah have increased.
