6 children were killed when Israeli forces clashed in the Khan Younis area, Palestinian medics said.
Israeli tanks pushed into the northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, and Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 20 people across the area.
The latest strikes came as Hamas said it had information that Israel intended to carry out a hostage rescue operation similar to the one carried out in Gaza's Nuseirat camp in June and threatened to “indiscriminately” take hostages if this happened, according to an internal statement. seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
In an internal statement dated November 22, Hamas told its operatives not to consider the consequences of following the instructions and claimed that Israel was responsible for the fate of the hostages. It did not say whether any Israeli activity was expected to take place.
Meanwhile, residents said the tanks continued for a day after the Israeli army issued new orders to evacuate, saying there had been rocket fire in the area.
As shells fell near residential areas, families left their homes and headed west to the nearby Al-Mawasi relief camp.
Doctors said 11 people were killed in three airstrikes in central Gaza, including six children and a doctor. Five of the dead were queuing outside the bakery, they said.
Another 9 Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, health officials said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the medical reports.
Israeli forces opened fire on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth day in a row, said hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, adding that three of his medical staff were wounded, one seriously, on Tuesday night.
“Drones drop explosive-laden bombs that injure anyone who dares to walk,” Abu Safiya said. “This situation is very urgent.”
Dozens of houses in northern Gaza have exploded, residents said
Residents in three towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun – said Israeli forces blew up dozens of houses.
Palestinians say the Israeli army is trying to drive people out of the northern outskirts of Gaza through forced evacuations and bombings to create a safe zone. The Israeli army denies this and says that it has returned to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in the area where it had previously expelled them.
Israel launched its operation in the heavily populated area after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border in Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
World Central Kitchen is suspending aid deliveries on Gaza's main route after an Israeli airstrike killed three of its workers.
Since then the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians, injured many more and reduced much of the area to rubble.
Israel has agreed to a cease-fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week, which stopped fighting in the war that broke out in Lebanon along with the war in Gaza.
But the war in Gaza itself has been based on only one ceasefire more than a year ago that lasted a week.
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