The Israeli army maintained pressure on northern Gaza on Wednesday, striking in a suburb of Gaza City, doctors said, and asking residents in a central part of the enclave to evacuate an area where militants fired rockets.
Airstrikes in Shejaiya, a suburb of Gaza City, killed at least eight Palestinians, according to local emergency services.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it was not immediately clear who was killed in the attack.
In Al-Buriej in central Gaza, the Israeli military said it struck a militant operating in an area from which rockets were fired into Israel the day before. Its Arab spokesperson, in a post on X, ordered people to leave the area before the strike.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said two people were killed in that strike and 15 others in an airstrike in Jabalia. There was no immediate confirmation from Gaza health authorities.
Much of the area around the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of residents and razed, fueling speculation, which Israel denies, that it intends to keep the area as a buffer after the end of the fighting in Gaza.
Israel says its nearly three-month campaign in northern Gaza aims to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping. His instructions to civilians to evacuate are intended to keep them out of danger, the military says.
No end in sight
Palestinian and United Nations officials say no place is safe in Gaza and the evacuations are worsening humanitarian conditions for the population.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, more than 1,500 tents housing displaced people across Gaza were flooded by heavy rains over the past two days, leaving people exposed to the cold and their belongings damaged.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced and much of the small coastal strip is in ruins.
The war was sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli counts.
An Israeli raid closed a major hospital in Gaza on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said this “essential” lifeline for local Palestinians had disappeared.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas of being responsible for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas. The army claims to have killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Hundreds of thousands of people live in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent torrential rains and temperatures drop below 10C at night. At least six infants and one other person died of hypothermia, according to the Health Ministry.
Many displaced Palestinians in central Gaza rely on charity kitchens as their sole food provider, amid restrictions on aid and skyrocketing prices. AP footage showed a long line of children waiting for rice, the only dish served Wednesday in the Deir al-Balah kitchen.
“Some of these kitchens are closing because they are not receiving aid, and others are distributing small amounts of food and it is not enough,” said Umm Adham Shaheen, displaced from Gaza City.
U.S. and Arab mediators spent nearly a year trying to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, but their efforts repeatedly failed.
Hamas demanded a lasting truce, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu vowed to continue fighting until “total victory.”
