Israel launched more attacks on targets in Gaza Wednesday, with Palestinian officials reporting dozens of deaths and injuries.
One Israeli strike that hit a tent camp housing displaced people killed at least 21 and wounded 28 in southern Gaza, according to the director of Nasser Hospital, Atif al-Hout, in the nearby city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants "involved in terrorist activities" in the area.
At least 15 bodies were brought to the hospital, but reaching a precise number of dead was difficult because many were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned. The strike hit the Mawasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Earlier strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed eight people, including four children, health officials said.
Residents in the Khan Younis area said Israeli tanks advanced a day after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian militants in the region.
With shells crashing near residential areas, families headed westward toward the nearby humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.
Further north, another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least 10 people and wounding many others, the territory's emergency service said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.
Medics said 11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been lining up outside a bakery, they said.
A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.
Israel's military did not immediately comment on the information given by Palestinian medics.
Israel says the Hamas militants frequently use residential buildings, schools and hospitals for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminate attacks.
Meanwhile, Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency said Wednesday that Israeli forces have recovered the body of a hostage held in Gaza.
Itay Svirsky was captured alive from southern Israel during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Israel believes that he was killed while in captivity.
The Shin Bet did not disclose details of the mission to recover Svirsky's body.
The Israeli military said Wednesday it made several arrests after Israeli settlers attacked towns in the occupied West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces said the violence included settler attacks on the village of Beit Furik, where settlers hurled stones and wounded two border police.
Settler violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas launched its October 2023 attack on Israel, and Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids on West Bank villages as part of a campaign the military says is aimed at disrupting militant activities.
U.S. and other officials expressed hope in recent days that last week’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah could help to push along efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
But months of talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza have yet to yield an agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that while fighting rages in Gaza, the fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire in Lebanon is “holding,” even as the warring parties have continued to periodically target each other with new strikes in recent days, and Israel launching new strikes in Lebanon Wednesday.
Blinken told journalists on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels, "The ceasefire is holding, and we're using the mechanism that was established when any concerns have arisen about any alleged or purported violations."
Both Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the week-old truce to end 14 months of fighting that has killed thousands of people in Lebanon and sparked mass displacement of residents on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanon border.
"I think fundamentally, both parties, that is to say Israel and Hezbollah, through the Lebanese government, wanted and continue to want the ceasefire," Blinken said. "But we have to make sure that it's upheld. And we're determined to do that."
A committee including France, United Nations peacekeepers, Israel, Lebanon and chaired by the United States is tasked with maintaining communication among the various parties and ensuring violations are identified and dealt with to avoid any escalation.
"The mechanism that we established with France to make sure that the ceasefire is effectively monitored and implemented is working, and we want to make sure it continues to work," Blinken said. "If there are concerns that one party or the other is violating the ceasefire, it comes to us, and one way or another, we engage the parties. That's exactly what's happened."
Under terms of the ceasefire, the two sides are supposed to pull back from the border area, with Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers maintaining a buffer zone.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said Wednesday that the Israel-Hezbollah war has killed at least 4,047 and wounded more than 16,600 others.
Abiad said most of the casualties have occurred since September 15, and that the actual number of dead is believed to be higher.
Israel stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas, following the Palestinian group's October 2023 attack on Israel. The attack killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages.
There are still about 100 hostages held in Gaza, with about one-third believed to be dead.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of the verified deaths women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says that the death toll includes thousands of militants it has killed.
Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terror groups by the United States, United Kingdom and other Western countries.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
