Gaza: 25 dead, mostly children, in Israeli raid, according to aid workers

At least 25 Palestinians, mostly children, have been killed Sunday in an Israeli strike that hit A family home in the northern Gaza Strip, devastated by more than a year of war, according to local relief workers.

Another Israeli strike targeted a house also in the north of the besieged Palestinian territory, killing five people, they added. “Civilians are still under the rubble.”

Israel has vowed to destroy the Palestinian Hamas, which launched an attack of unprecedented scale and violence against its territory from Gaza on October 7, 2023. In retaliation, its army launched a destructive offensive that left tens of thousands dead and caused a humanitarian disaster in the small territory.

All attempts made since the beginning of the year by mediators – Qatar, Egypt, the United States – to reach a ceasefire with the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have failed.

On Saturday, Qatar announced that it had suspended its mediation. It “will resume them when Israel and Hamas show the will and seriousness” to cease hostilities, said Foreign Affairs spokesman Majed Al Ansari.

The Palestinian Civil Defense reported “at least” 25 dead, “including 13 children,” in a strike that targeted a family home in Jabalia, and “more than 30 injured.”

The other strike that killed five took place in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, it said.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was examining this information.

– “Hell on earth” –

Israelis demonstrate in Tel Aviv on November 9, 2024 to demand an agreement allowing the release of hostages held in Gaza © AFP – JACK GUEZ

Israeli troops have been conducting an air and ground offensive since October 6 against the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in Jabalia, where Hamas is reportedly seeking to regroup its forces.

By decimating its leadership, the army has dealt heavy blows to Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, two years after Israel withdrew from the territory it occupied for 38 years.

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Since the start of the war, Israel has been besieging Gaza's estimated 2.4 million people, most of whom have been displaced.

The territory is a “hell on earth” for the million children who live there, UNICEF said in October.

The October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

More than 43,550 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli reprisals in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas.

“Enough of these massacres, these martyrs and these wars! How much longer will this go on? Enough! We are exhausted,” said Umm Mohammad, a displaced woman living in a tent near a hospital in Deir al-Balah (central), after Israeli raids nearby on Saturday.

“How many more tears must flow and how much more blood must be shed before someone brings our children home?,” exclaimed Nina Wenkert, the mother of a hostage, at a rally in Tel Aviv the same day, demanding a truce agreement.

– “Starvation thresholds” –

Smoke rises from the site of a strike that targeted the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon on November 9, 2024 © AFP – –

A report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released Friday, based on a partial count of war casualties, said women and children accounted for “nearly 70%” of the dead in Gaza between November 2023 and April 2024.

The Israeli military said it was “committed to operating within the laws of armed conflict” and said it was working to “minimize harm to non-combatants.”

On Saturday, the UN warned in a report that “starvation thresholds have already been crossed or will be in the near future” in Gaza.

A report deemed “biased” by Israel.

In support of Hamas, the Lebanese Hezbollah opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023, which degenerated into open war on September 23 with a campaign of intense Israeli strikes, mainly against the strongholds of the Lebanese movement.

Since September 30, Israeli troops have also been conducting a ground offensive in the south of the country, bordering northern Israel.

Israel claims to want to neutralize Hezbollah in the border regions of southern Lebanon to allow the return home of 60,000 residents of northern Israel displaced by the shots of this pro-Iranian movement.

All rights reserved. © (2024) Agence France-Presse