Israeli airstrikes have left about 60 people dead across southern and central parts of Gaza, according to health officials in the Palestinian territory, as Israel seeks to root out Hamas militants it accuses of hiding in densely populated areas.
The Israeli air force reportedly hit approximately 40 targets, which included military infrastructure and buildings containing explosives.
Hamas has accused Israel of scaling up recent attacks in an attempt to undermine a cease-fire deal that the United States has been pushing for. Israel maintains that the attacks are an attempt to eliminate Hamas.
Separately, Israeli officials announced on Tuesday that they will begin to send draft notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men to fight in the war in Gaza. They were exempt until a Supreme Court ruling in June.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties in its coalition.
The decision is expected to cause some tension within the country, with protests previously taking place when the government attempted to enlist ultra-Orthodox Jewish men.
Israeli military forces have been conducting air and ground offensives in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s terror attack on Israel on October 7 of last year.
Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in their attack that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 116 hostages, including 42 that the military says are dead.
Both sides agree the assault in Gaza has killed more than 38,200 people. Israel says the majority of the dead are combatants. The Hamas-run health ministry says 38,500 have died, the majority of them women and children, but it does not estimate how many of the dead were combatants. The airstrikes and ground attacks have injured more than 88,800 others, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Nearly three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million population are displaced, and nearly the entire population is at risk of famine, according to the United Nations.
Airstrike hits house in refugee camp
Meanwhile, Gaza’s health officials say the bodies of five Palestinians were recovered after an Israeli airstrike on a house in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, while hospital officials in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah reported three people were killed in an airstrike. The Associated Press says one person on the street was killed and at least six others wounded.
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike near the border that separates Syria and Lebanon killed Mohammed Baraa Katerji, a Syrian businessman with close ties to Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime. Reports say Kateriji was killed while in a vehicle traveling along the highway linking the two nations.
Katerji, an oil tycoon, was sanctioned by the United States for facilitating trade between Assad’s regime and the radical Islamic State group.
Questions remain about the fate of the head of Hamas’ military forces, who was the target of an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. Local health officials say at least 90 people were killed in the strike on al-Masawi, located on the outskirts of Khan Younis, which Israel had previously declared a safe zone for scores of Palestinians who have been displaced by the war.
Israel says the strike targeted Mohammed Deif, considered the mastermind behind the group’s October 7 raid on southern Israel.
Work toward cease-fire continues
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been working to broker a cease-fire deal but have yet to achieve a new agreement that includes a halt in fighting and the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The White House said Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with their Israeli security counterparts for a meeting of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group.
In addition to discussions on countering Iran’s threats to Israel, the two sides "discussed developments in Gaza and progress towards a cease-fire and hostage release deal. The Israeli side affirmed its full support for the deal as outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, G7, and countries around the world." The G7 refers to the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.
