Airstrikes in central Gaza kill 15 overnight while fighting intensifies in south
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people, including a 5-month-old, overnight between Thursday and Friday, as health authorities in the besieged territory said the death toll since the start of the war has surpassed 26,000.
In southern Gaza, Israeli forces pushed farther into the city of Khan Yunis, where the intensity of the fighting has increased in recent days. The Israeli military Friday ordered residents of three neighborhoods and the Khan Yunis refugee camp to evacuate to a coastal area.
The camp, like others in Gaza, was initially settled by Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It has since been built up into a district of the wider city. The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and the commander of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, both grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp.
The intense fighting came as the United Nations’ top court Friday stopped short of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza, as sought by South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in its military offensive.
Instead, the International Court of Justice in The Hague demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage. The court rejected a request by Israel, which rejects the genocide accusation, that the case be thrown out.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the war stood at 26,083, with 64,487 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Over the previous 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were wounded, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.
The International Court of Justice’s ruling comes at an early stage in South Africa’s case alleging that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7, when the group’s militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in Gaza after a round of releases during a brief cease-fire in November, although about 30 are believed to be dead.
Israel blames the high civilian death toll in Gaza on Hamas, which it accuses of positioning fighters and military hardware in dense residential neighborhoods.
Israel’s near-complete seal on Gaza has left almost the entire population of 2.3 million reliant on the trickle of international aid that is able to enter the territory each day. U.N. officials say about a quarter of the population faces starvation.
Aid groups have struggled to bring food, medicines and other supplies to northern Gaza, the first target of the ground invasion, which Israel says it now largely controls.
Uday Samir, a 23-year-old Gaza City native, said many basic foodstuffs such as flour, lentils and rice are impossible to find.
A shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held in Gaza was en route in the first agreement between Israel and Hamas since a November truce.
“Now what is available is animal feed,” said Samir. “We grind it and bake it.”
All supplies enter Gaza in the south, through either the Egypt-controlled Rafah border crossing or Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing. Aid groups say fighting and Israeli restrictions have made deliveries to the north difficult. When convoys do travel north, the supplies are often snatched by hungry Palestinians before the trucks reach their destination.
Israel’s assault is now focused on Khan Yunis and refugee camps in central Gaza.
The Israeli military said its troops were engaging in close urban combat with Hamas fighters across neighborhoods of Khan Yunis, calling in airstrikes and attack helicopters to hit militants who are spotted with rocket-propelled grenades and weapons.
Hamas has also reported that its fighters are battling Israeli forces in the heart of the city.
More than three months into the Israel-Hamas war, the families of hostages held in Gaza have grown disillusioned with Israel’s military operations.
This week, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of most of the western half of the city.
Farther north, the bodies of 15 people, including seven members of one family, were taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, an Associated Press journalist at the hospital said. The 15 were killed during separate strikes on two apartment buildings in Nuseirat, which lies just below the demarcation line between the northern and southern portions of the territory, drawn by Israel early in the war.
The offensive has decimated large swaths of the coastal territory, and the U.N. and other aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian disaster. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced.
Shurafa and Jeffery write for the Associated Press.
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