By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 62 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli indiscriminate bombings in the Gaza Strip, taking the overall death toll since & October last year to 43,665, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement added that some 103,076 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“The Israeli occupation has committed three massacres of families in the last 48 hours, resulting in 62 deaths and 147 injuries,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Meanwhile, at least ten people, including seven children, were killed in fresh Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to medical sources.
Three children from the same family lost their lives when an Israeli warplane hit their home in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, one source said.
The death toll since dawn across Gaza rises to 25 after an Israeli air strike targets an overcrowded area in Deir el-Balah city, killing at least six people.
Israeli bombing Tuesday evening killed several Palestinians and injured others in the cities of Gaza and Khan Younes, according to WAFA correspondent.
He said that an Israeli bombing targeted a group of civilians in Qizan Rashwan neighbourhood, southwest of Khan Yunis city in the southern Strip, killing at least one.
He added that Israeli fighter jets targeted a house in the al-Karameh neighbourhood, northwest of Gaza City, resulting in the killing of several civilians and injuring others.
Meanwhile, the Israeli forces completely burned down Mahdia Al-Shawa School, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, causing extensive destruction.
Palestine Red Crescent paramedics reported that the bodies of six slain Palestinians were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip, after an Israeli drone targeted a gathering of citizens near the agency’s clinic on Al-Bahr Street in the city.
In a similar attack, one civilian and about 20 wounded were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital west of Gaza City after an Israeli drone bombed the Abu Iskandar area in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of the city.
Al-Awda Hospital in Al-Nuseirat received this morning the bodies of three slain Palestinians and 11 wounded as a result of a bombing that targeted a house in the Al-Rahma neighborhood.
Israel prevents humanitarian aid in Gaza
Meanwhile, UN sounded the alarm Tuesday on inadequate levels of humanitarian aid reaching the Gaza Strip, citing extreme shortages for those in need.
“The level of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza is nowhere near what we need to support all of the people who desperately need help inside Gaza,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.
Saying that the World Food Program (WFP) managed to deliver the first aid convoy through Gaza’s new Kissufim crossing, established after months of negotiations, Dujarric said that “the agency delivered 15 trucks carrying food parcels and wheat flour.”
“October saw the lowest amount of aid entering Gaza this year. For the second time in a row, WFP was only able to reach half the people who rely on its assistance with reduced rations,” he said.
Noting that the situation could improve if the newly established Kissufim border crossing were kept open consistently, Dujarric stated that Israel continues to block aid deliveries.
He highlighted that many in Gaza are hungry, sick and in desperate need of assistance, and he called for the urgent opening of more road crossings into Gaza.
Israeli forces on Tuesday evening carried out another horrific airstrike on a residential building near coastline of Gaza City, where several Palestinians were waiting for food.
This attack comes as the besieged enclave’s food crisis worsens, with most areas experiencing severe food shortages and high prices following Israeli restrictions on aid access.
Witnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army hit a residential building where several aid recipients were waiting near the Al Qahira Hall on the northern Gaza City coast, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.
Some of the wounded and dead remained on the scene, while others were transported to the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City for treatment, the witnesses added.
International humanitarian groups on Tuesday said that Israel had failed to meet a series of US demands for humanitarian assistance access aiming at improving aid flow into Gaza.
Their statement came as the deadline set by the US for the requests has reached.
On Oct. 13, the US secretaries of state and defense issued a letter demanding that Israel make concrete progress within 30 days on measures to reverse the spiraling humanitarian situation.
“Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response, but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza,” the group of eight organizations, including OXFAM, Save the Children and Norwegian Refugee Council, said in 19-page report.
“That situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago,” they lamented.
They said: “People are being starved in Gaza: Israeli military operations have denied them critical food aid and basic necessities, which has, in turn, caused conditions approaching famine for 800,000 Palestinian civilians across Gaza.
“Conditions are worst in Gaza’s north, where Israel launched a major operation in October that has cut off humanitarian aid to the area.”
Israel’s casualties in Gaza
Figures released by the Israeli military showed that five of the soldiers were injured in clashes in the Gaza Strip, without specifying where the sixth was wounded.
According to military figures, some 787 soldiers have been killed and 5,331 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas claimed Tuesday to have killed and injured 10 Israeli soldiers in an ambush in the northern Gaza town of Jabalia, according to Anadolu.
The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said its fighters detonated a house in Al-Qasaseeb area as Israeli soldiers moved into the building.
It confirmed that the blast left 10 Israeli soldiers dead and injured.
There was no confirmation yet from the Israeli army.
The army said early Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip a day earlier.
WEST BANK
Two Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli army targeted a roadside stall displaying goods in the southwestern Qizan Abu Rashwan area, killing two Palestinians and injuring several others, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
LEBANON
At least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Monday, taking the overall death toll since last year to 3,287, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the ministry added that 88 other people were wounded in the past day, raising the total number of injuries to 14,222 since October 2023.
Israel has launched a massive air campaign in Lebanon since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets in an escalation from year-long cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group since the start of Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip.
At least five people were killed Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in Aley in the eastern part of Beirut, according to officials.
The attack also injured two others.
Israeli warplanes launched fresh airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday amid reports of fatalities, according to Lebanese media.
Fighter jets struck a home in the town of Debaal in Tyre, leaving several people dead and injured, the state news agency NNA reported.
Israeli artillery also shelled the towns of Naqoura, Labbouneh, Yohmor al-Chaqif, Toul, Arnoun, and the outskirts of Alma al-Shaab, NNA said.
No information was yet available about casualties.
An Israeli drone also hit a café in Merouaniyeh town, injuring several people, the same broadcaster said.
Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed 11 people across the country, including five in a rare attack on a house east of Beirut, where a security official said displaced people lived.
“The Israeli enemy’s airstrike on the town of Baalchmay resulted in an initial death toll of five and two injured,” said the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The state-run news agency reported that warplanes targeted a house in the area between the towns of Baalchmay and Dhour El Aabadiyeh along the international road in the Aley district.
The Israeli army has begun the second phase of its ground operation in southern Lebanon, which the army says involves advancing toward Hezbollah’s second line of defense, Israeli daily Maariv reported Tuesday.
“The Israeli army has initiated the second phase of the ground maneuver in southern Lebanon, with the 36th Division advancing toward Hezbollah’s second defensive line,” said Maariv.
The 36th Division is an armored division and is the largest among the Israeli military formations.
According to the daily, forces from the division were involved in the new operation in southern Lebanon, including the Golani Brigade, the Paratroopers Brigade, and the 188th Armored Brigade, with combat engineers working alongside them.
The Israeli daily said the purpose of this operation is “to dismantle Hezbollah formations in the area and apply pressure on Hezbollah regarding political settlement negotiations in Lebanon.”
The Israeli army ordered civilians in 14 villages in southern Lebanon on Tuesday to evacuate their homes immediately ahead of attacks.
In a statement posted on X, military spokesman Avichay Adraee listed the affected villages, which include Chaqra, Houla, Majdal Selm, Tallouseh, Mays al-Jabal, Souaneh, Qabrikha, Yahmour, Arnoun, Blida, Mhaibib, Baraachit, Froun, and Ghandouriyeh.
He asked residents to leave their homes immediately and move north of the Awali River.
The Israeli army has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for civilians in several areas across Lebanon since the start of its air campaign on the country in late September.
The Lebanese armed group says it attacked a logistics base east of the city of Nahariya with a “squadron of attack drones”.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it had intercepted an Israeli Hermes 450 drone in the airspace of the western sector, saying “we forced it to leave Lebanese airspace”.
YEMEN
The Yemeni Houthi group claimed responsibility for two military operations late Tuesday evening that targeted US warships in the Red and Arabian seas.
“The Yemeni armed forces (Houthis) carried out two major military operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, lasting eight hours and successfully hitting their targets,” group spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised statement.
He said the first operation targeted the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea with multiple cruise missiles and drones.
“The attack on the carrier occurred while the US enemy forces were preparing for hostile operations against our country,” said Saree.
The second hit two US destroyers in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, he said.
The spokesperson linked the attacks to broader geopolitical dynamics.
“The aggression against Yemen is part of the US-British defense of Israeli interests and will only lead to more operations,” he added.
A coalition led by the US has been conducting airstrikes since the beginning of 2024 that it said are targeting Houthi locations in parts of Yemen in response to attacks by the group on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The counterattacks have been occasionally met with retaliation from the group.
[Photo: Relatives of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces hit house of the Abu Awda family located in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, are mourning following dead bodies are brought to the Al-Awda Hospital for burial, in Gaza City, Gaza on November 12, 2024. Photojournalist: Ashraf Amra/AA]
