Israeli airstrikes on Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza and on the northern town of Jabalia killed at least 17 Palestinians on Wednesday, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment although, in a post on X, its Arabic spokesperson warned residents of Al-Bureij earlier to evacuate ahead of an imminent strike against militants firing rockets from the area.
It also said overnight that it killed Abd al-Hadi Sabah, a Hamas militant who helped lead the infiltration into Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Islamist group on southern Israel.
The instruction to clear the Al-Bureij camp has caused a new wave of displacement, although it was not immediately clear how many people were affected.
WAFA said the military blew up residential blocks in Beit Lahiya and in and around Jabalia, while tanks shelled parts of Gaza City and the Al-Bureij camp.
Israel says its almost three-month-old campaign in northern Gaza is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping. Its instructions to civilians to evacuate are meant to keep them out of harm’s way, the military says.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say no place is safe in Gaza and that evacuations worsen the humanitarian conditions of the population.
According to the Palestinian Civil Defence, more than 1,500 tents sheltering displaced people across Gaza were flooded by heavy rains over the past two days, leaving people exposed to the cold and their belongings damaged.
Hundreds more tents experienced less severe flooding that still left displaced people unable to use them.
Much of the area around the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and razed, fuelling speculation Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone after the fighting in Gaza ends.
No end in sight
Israel’s Gaza campaign has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the tiny coastal strip is in ruins.
The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, with another 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas. The army says it has killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
An Israeli raid shut down a major Gaza hospital on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, and WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris says this ‘essential’ lifeline for local Palestinians is gone.
The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands are living in tents on the coast as winter brings frequent rainstorms and temperatures drop below 10 C at night. At least six infants and another person have died of hypothermia, according to the Health Ministry.
American and Arab mediators have spent nearly a year trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release, but those efforts have repeatedly stalled.
Hamas has demanded a lasting truce, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu has vowed to keep fighting until “total victory” over the militants.
