Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people in the Gaza Strip overnight into Tuesday, Palestinian medics said, as hospitals are flooded with dead and wounded since Israel resumed heavy bombardment last week, shattering the ceasefire that had halted the 17-month war.
The dead include three children and their parents who were killed in a strike on their tent near the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000, according to the Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel launched the campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251. Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because it operates in densely populated areas.
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Here’s the latest:
A 9-member Palestinian paramedics team still missing
Palestinian first responders say a nine-member ambulance crew is still missing days after being surrounded and targeted by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the team was responding to airstrikes in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood of the southern city of Rafah when Israeli forces encircled the area early Sunday. It said Israel has refused access to the area since then.
The military said troops had fired on ambulances and fire trucks that it said had raised suspicion by moving without prior coordination and without headlights or emergency signals. It said those inside were militants, without providing evidence.
Israel says a Palestinian journalist killed in a strike was also a Hamas sniper
The Israeli military says a well-known Palestinian journalist killed in a strike on the Gaza Strip was also a Hamas sniper.
It shared what it said were internal Hamas documents purportedly showing that Hossam Shabat was a sniper in a Hamas battalion in northern Gaza and had received military training in 2019. The military said he had carried out attacks during the war, without providing evidence.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera said Shabat, a freelance reporter, was covering the war for the satellite news network when he was killed in an Israeli strike on Monday. It said he had been wounded in an Israeli strike in November.
Shabat, in his early 20s, was prolific on social media, sharing videos and other reports with more than 170,000 followers on the X platform.
Israel has banned Al Jazeera and accused several of its journalists in Gaza of being Palestinian militants. A number of them have been killed or wounded in Israeli strikes. The channel denies the accusations and says Israel is trying to silence journalists covering the war.
Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning film is missing after being detained by Israeli military
One of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary “ No Other Land ” was still missing on Tuesday after being beaten by Jewish settlers and detained by the Israeli military.
Attorney Lea Tsemel told The Associated Press she had no information on filmmaker Hamdan Ballal’s whereabouts early Tuesday, around 12 hours after witnesses said he was attacked and detained in the occupied West Bank.
Ballal was one of three Palestinians detained in the village of Susiya late Monday, according to Tsemel, who is representing them. Police told her they’re being held at a military base for medical treatment, and she said she hasn’t been able to speak with them.
Basel Adra, another co-director, witnessed the detention and said around two dozen settlers — some masked, some carrying guns, some in Israeli uniform — attacked the village. Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while settlers continued throwing stones.
The Israeli military said it detained three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at forces and one Israeli civilian involved in a “violent confrontation” between Israelis and Palestinians — a claim witnesses interviewed by the AP disputed.
The military said it had transferred them to Israeli police for questioning and had evacuated an Israeli citizen from the area to receive medical treatment.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 23
Palestinian medics say Israeli strikes killed at least 23 people in the Gaza Strip overnight into Tuesday.
Nasser Hospital said it received four additional bodies from two other strikes in addition to the family of five.
In central Gaza, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in three separate strikes. Three others were killed in a strike on a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to Al-Awda Hospital.
In Gaza City, an Israeli strike on a residential building killed 5 people, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. Another 12 people were wounded, it said.
