Israel air strikes kill families in two Gaza homes; tanks bear down on Mawasi

Huge Israeli air strikes killed extended families in homes in two parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, while tanks in the south pushed towards a humanitarian zone on the Mediterranean coast, forcing displaced families to take flight again, Reuters reports.

Medics said at least 10 people were confirmed killed in an air strike on a house in the Daraj suburb of Gaza City that destroyed the building and damaged nearby houses.

Further north, in the town of Beit Lahiya which has been under Israeli siege since early October, at least 15 people were believed to be dead or missing under the rubble of a house hit by an air strike around dawn, said medics. Rescuers were unable to reach the site to confirm the toll.

At least 10 other Palestinians were killed in separate strikes elsewhere in Gaza City and Beit Lahiya, medics said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reports of air strikes. Israel says it targets fighters and blames any harm to civilians on fighters for operating among them, which the fighters deny.

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In Beit Lahiya, Israel has been operating since October in what it calls an offensive to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping; Palestinians say the army aims to depopulate a buffer zone on the enclave’s northern edge, which Israel denies.

In the southern part of the enclave, in Rafah near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks pushed deeper towards the western area of Mawasi, forcing dozens of families to flee northwards towards Khan Yunis, residents said.

Hours later, residents said the army blew up several houses in the area and set several tents ablaze.

Israel has previously designated Mawasi, along the Mediterranean coast, as a humanitarian area. Thousands of Palestinians have lived there in tents for months, having obeyed Israeli orders to move there from other areas for safety.

Footage circulating on social media showed lines of thick black and grey smoke rising from the area beside the tent encampment. Reuters could not immediately verify the time or exact location of the images.

Contacted by Reuters, the Israeli military said it had no information corresponding to the reports of tanks advancing towards Mawasi.

After months during which ceasefire talks had stalled, efforts to reach a truce brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have resumed in recent weeks, though with no breakthrough yet.

On Monday, an official with knowledge of the talks told Reuters an Israeli technical team was in Doha for working-level talks with Qatari mediators on “remaining issues” in a deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages. The talks are focused on bridging gaps on a deal that US President Joe Biden outlined more than six months ago, the official said.

Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera news said on Tuesday there were “extensive” Egyptian-Qatari efforts with all parties to reach a ceasefire deal.

The war began when the Palestinian group, Hamas, stormed into Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Israel then launched an air and land offensive that has killed more than 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Gaza Strip. Israel has indiscriminately targeted women and children and killed thousands of doctors, journalists, academics and aid workers. Gazans have been deliberately starved, with no food or medicine being allowed to enter the enclave.

The campaign has displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins, having bombed much of Gaza’s infrastructure – hospitals, water sources, mosques, churches and residential areas. Thousands of the dead still remain under the rubble.  Israel has ignored ICJ, ICC and UN rulings.

READ: Palestinian people are facing ‘most brutal’ catastrophe in modern times