Israeli forces carry out air and ground attacks in Gaza; Dozens killed by Reuters

Written by Nidal Al-Maghribi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 48 Palestinians, including a journalist and rescue workers, medics said, and the Israeli army said its air and ground forces in the northern Gaza Strip killed dozens of activists and arrested others.

Medics and fellow journalists said that an air strike hit the civil emergency center in the Nuseirat market area in the central Gaza Strip, killing Ahmed Al-Louh, a video journalist for Al Jazeera, and five other people.

The television network said he was working when he was killed, and Israel condemned it.

The Israeli army said that the raid targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists working from the Nuseirat office of the Civil Defense in Gaza. It stated that Al-Louh is a member of the Islamic Jihad movement, without providing evidence.

Al Jazeera did not immediately comment on the Israeli claim, but it condemned Israel’s previous allegations of naming some of the Qatari-owned network’s journalists who were killed in the Gaza war as members of armed groups.

Hamas media said that the head of the civil emergency service in Nuseirat, Nidal Abu Hajir, was also killed.

Zaki Imad al-Din from the Civil Emergency Service told reporters at the hospital, “The Civil Emergency headquarters in the Nuseirat camp was bombed while its crews were present, working around the clock to serve the people.”

Another air strike targeted a group of men linked to Hamas who were charged with protecting aid trucks west of Gaza City. Medics said that many of them were injured, but exact numbers are not available.

At least 11 people were killed in three Israeli air strikes on homes in Gaza City, nine were killed in the towns of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and the Jabalia refugee camp when groups of homes were bombed or set on fire, and two were killed in Rafah, according to medics and residents. He said.

The Israeli army said that the three homes in Gaza City were owned by militants planning imminent attacks. She added that steps had been taken to reduce risks to civilians, including the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.

The army published a photo showing the weapons it seized in Beit Lahia, which included explosives and dozens of hand grenades.

In Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, medics said that at least 20 people, including women and children, were killed when an air strike hit a shelter housing displaced families.

In Beit Hanoun, residents said that the occupation forces surrounded families who took refuge in the Khalil Aweida School before storming it and ordering them to head towards Gaza City.

Medics said that several people were killed and injured during the raid, while the army arrested several men.

The army said it beat dozens of militants from the air and on the ground and arrested others in Beit Hanoun.

Reuters was unable to confirm whether any of the dead were fighters. Hamas does not disclose its losses, and the Palestinian Ministry of Health does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in the death toll.

Israel says Gaza militants regularly hide among civilians and use them as human shields. Hamas denies this.

Hostages

In a separate incident, Israel said its planes bombed a command and control center in a compound in the Abu Shabak clinic in northern Gaza, which Hamas used to store weapons and plan attacks. The Gaza Ministry of Health said the medical center was destroyed.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing to evacuate the northern end of the Gaza Strip and establish a buffer zone. Israel denies this and says the campaign targets Hamas activists. The army says it has instructed civilians to evacuate the combat areas for their safety.

The war began when the Palestinian Hamas movement stormed Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel then launched an air and ground attack that killed nearly 45,000 people, most of them civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The campaign displaced almost the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.

An attempt by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce, which would also include a hostage deal, has gained momentum in recent weeks, yet there has been no news of a breakthrough.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke with US President-elect Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20, about efforts to secure the hostages’ release.

“We discussed the necessity of completing Israel’s victory and spoke at length about the efforts we are making to free our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday.

(Reported and written by Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Editing by Howard Goller)