CAIRO: Israeli military strikes killed at least 17 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as forces stepped up bombardments on central areas and pushed tanks deeper in the north and south of the enclave.
Six people were killed in two separate air strikes on a house and near the hospital of Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, while four others were killed when an Israeli strike hit a motorcycle in Khan Younis in the south.
In Nuseirat, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, Israeli planes carried out several air strikes destroying a multi-floor building and hitting roads outside mosques.
At least seven people were killed in some of those strikes, health officials said. Medics said at least two people, a woman and a child, were killed in tank shelling that hit western areas of Nuseirat, while an air strike killed five others in a house nearby.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, tanks pushed deeper into the northern-west area of the city, residents said.
Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip leave 15 dead, medics say
There has been no Israeli comment on the fighting in Gaza overnight and early Thursday.
Israel’s 13-month aggression in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once, according to Gaza officials.
Vast swathes of the territory are in ruins.
Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold.
Mediator Qatar has suspended its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.
A ceasefire in the parallel conflict between Israel and Hamas’ Lebanese ally Hezbollah took effect before dawn on Wednesday, bringing a halt to hostilities that had escalated sharply in recent months and overshadowed the conflict in Gaza.
Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for an elusive agreement in Gaza, urging Israel and Hamas to seize the moment.
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