GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israel said its forces fought Hamas gunmen inside the militants’ vast tunnel network beneath Gaza as a hospital director said more than 50 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the besieged enclave.
The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital told Al Jazeera that more than 50 Palestinians were killed and 150 wounded in Israeli air strikes on a densely populated area of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The tunnels under the cramped enclave are a prime objective for Israel as it expands a four-day-old ground offensive after three weeks of aerial bombardment into Gaza.
Israel is aiming to dismantle Hamas, following the militant group’s attack on the south of the country on Oct 7.
Israeli officials say about 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.
Israel has been bombarding the Gaza Strip in retaliation and has killed more than 8,500 people there, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
United Nations officials say more than 1.4 million of Gaza’s civilian population of about 2.3 million have been made homeless.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday dismissed calls for a halt to fighting to ease the Palestinian enclave’s humanitarian crisis.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement: “Over the last day, combined IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including anti-tank missile and rocket launch posts below shafts, as well as military compounds inside underground tunnels belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
The militants responded with anti-tank missiles and machine-gun fire, it added.
“The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure,” the IDF said. Israeli armed forces also bombed Gaza overnight in air, sea and ground attacks.
They targeted north-western areas of the Palestinian enclave where Israeli troops were operating on the ground, witnesses said on Tuesday.
The United States and Arab countries have urged Israel to delay any ground operation that would multiply the number of civilian casualties and might ignite a wider conflict.
Witnesses said Israeli forces targeted Gaza’s main north-south road on Monday and attacked Gaza City from two directions. Israel said its troops freed a soldier from Hamas captivity.
Hamas, an armed group that governs Gaza, has so far released four civilians from the 239 hostages that Israel says were captured on Oct 7. Many of the hostages are believed to be held in the tunnels.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vd29ybGQvbWlkZGxlLWVhc3QvaXNyYWVsLWVuZ2FnZXMtaGFtYXMtbWlsaXRhbnRzLWluc2lkZS1nYXphcy10dW5uZWxz0gEA?oc=5
2023-10-31 15:31:57Z
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