By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, NNA, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 23 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, pushing up the overall death toll since last year to 45,361, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement added that some 107,803 others were injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 23 people and injured 39 others in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Ten people lost their lives when an Israeli fighter jet hit a home in the Maen area in the southern city of Khan Younis, one source said.
Two more people were killed in another strike targeting a residential apartment in al-Manara neighborhood in southern Khan Younis, he added.
Civil Defense teams retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians after an Israeli strike on a tent for displaced civilians in western Khan Younis, medics said.
A man and his wife were also killed and several people were injured when Israeli forces bombed a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, another medical source said.
Israeli warplanes also hit a house in the Jabalia Nazla area in northern Gaza, leaving six people dead, he added.
A pregnant woman was killed in an airstrike on an apartment in Gaza City, while a young man lost his life and three people were injured in another strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to the same source.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued to blow up homes and residential buildings in the northern Gaza Strip amid its ongoing military operations in the area, according to witnesses.
Israeli forces also detonated an explosive-laden robot near the Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza for the second time, the hospital said in a statement.
Three civilians were killed and several others were injured, most of them in critical condition, on Wednesday evening, as a result of an Israeli bombardment on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Local sources reported that two civilians were killed and many others were injured as a result of a bombardment targeting them in the Al-Mashrou’ area, while Waseem Suleiman Muammar was killed and another was injured in a bombardment on the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah city.
Local sources reported that 10 civilians were killed and several others were injured when the occupation forces’ aircraft bombed a house in the Ma’an area east of Khan Yunis Governorate.
A civilian and his wife were also killed in a bombing that targeted a residential apartment near the Ain Jalut Towers south of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, and the young man Ahmed Al-Munirawi was killed in the bombing of his family’s home in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that during a visit to the Philadelphi Corridor, Defence Minister Israel Katz said that security control in Gaza will remain in the hands of the Israeli military.
The Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Philadelphi Route, is the 14km (8.7-mile) long strip of land representing the entire border area between Gaza and Egypt.
Katz is quoted as saying Israel will ensure “security areas, buffer zones and controlling positions that will guarantee the safety of the communities [near the border]”.
Katz is also reported to have said Hamas will no longer exist in Gaza as a military or governing force.
WEST BANK
A Palestinian security personnel died of injuries in the West Bank city of Jenin, taking the death toll from an ongoing security operation in the area to seven, a security spokesman said on Wednesday.
Palestinian security forces launched an operation two weeks ago against what they call “outlaws” in the Jenin refugee camp.
Anwar Rajab, a spokesperson for the Palestinian security forces, said an intelligence agent succumbed to his wounds on Wednesday “while fulfilling his duty in Jenin camp.”
According to local media, at least seven people have so far been killed in the campaign, including three security personnel, three civilians, and a commander of the Islamic Jihad group.
The operation has triggered accusations from several Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority of targeting resistance fighters in the camp.
Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, taking the death toll from an ongoing military operation in the area to eight, the Health Ministry said early Wednesday.
A ministry statement said that seven more people were injured, including two seriously, in the offensive.
The Israeli army began a large-scale military operation in Tulkarem late Monday, triggering clashes with angry Palestinian residents, according to witnesses.
An Israeli military statement said an army commander was injured in a roadside bomb explosion in the city on Wednesday.
The army said the commander suffered moderate injuries after his vehicle hit an explosive device in the area.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society say Israeli forces have arrested 25 Palestinians from various parts of the occupied West Bank last night and this morning.
Over the past few days, the commission has reported arrests in the occupied governorates of Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Tubas, Tulkarem and Salfit.
Israeli occupation forces today demolished a park in the town of Nahalin, west of Bethlehem.
A local source said that Israeli army broke into the town, specifically the Khallet al-Daliya area to the south, and began demolishing a park containing a swimming pool, a restaurant, a café, and various facilities, under the pretext that they were built without a license.
It is noteworthy that the occupation forces demolished three houses and three agricultural facilities in Nahalin three weeks ago in the Qarnat al-Damas area.
The source added that the Israeli occupation forces closed the area and prevented the owner of the park from approaching and removing its contents, while firing tear gas and sound bombs at any citizen who tried to approach the demolition site.
Illegal Israeli settlers grazed their sheep on Bedouin lands in the Ein Al-Auja community, north of Jericho.
Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the “Al-Baidar” organization for the defense of Bedouin rights, said that a group of settlers
grazed their sheep on Palestinian lands in the Ein Al-Auja Bedouin community, causing massive destruction of citizens’ lands and the vandalism of their properties, for the second time in a week.
Earlier today, settlers had burned two sheep pens in the Arab Al-Malihat community northwest of Jericho.
The Bedouin communities in the Jericho and Jordan Valley Governorate, which number 26, suffer from harassment by the Israeli occupation army and settlers launched an airstrike.
Israeli occupation forces today demolished a commercial structure east of Qalqilya.
Local sources reported that a large force of the Israeli occupation army, accompanied by bulldozers, broke into the village of Nabi Elias east of Qalqilya and demolished a commercial structure belonging to a local resident.
LEBANON
The Israeli army launched an airstrike in the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday, the first such attack since a cease-fire agreement last month, Lebanese media said.
The Israeli strike targeted an area between the towns of Talia and Hizzine in the Baalbek district, the state news agency NNA reported.
No information was yet available about injuries or damage.
Lebanese authorities have reported around 300 Israeli violations since the cease-fire agreement took effect on Nov. 27 to end over 14 months of fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah group.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on a cease-fire monitoring committee on Tuesday to pressure Israel to halt its violations of the agreement.
YEMEN
Israeli Air Force Chief Tomer Bar vowed Wednesday to escalate airstrikes against Houthi [Ansar Allah] positions in Yemen amid rising escalation over Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
“We operate with significant force wherever we are required,” the public broadcaster KAN quoted Bar as saying during a pilot graduation ceremony.
“We have struck the Houthis in Yemen three times, and we will continue and increase the frequency and intensity of these strikes as needed,” he added.
The Israeli army has so far carried out three waves of aerial strikes on vital facilities in Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
Israeli media said that a fourth aerial attack against the Houthis is being planned.
Nine Israelis were hurt early Wednesday while running for shelter after rocket fire by the Houthis. The army said the projectile was intercepted before entering Israeli airspace.
The attack came after 20 people were injured in Jaffa in central Israel on Saturday after air defense failed to intercept a missile fired by the Houthis.
[Photo: Bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli attack that hit Az Zaytoon neighborhood in the southern Gaza City, Gaza on December 25, 2024 and their close relatives mourn their death. Photojournalist: Mahmoud Isleem/AA]
