Death toll from Israeli strikes in central Gaza rises to 25; 13 people are killed in Lebanon
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The death toll from Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip rose to 25, including five children, as more bodies were recovered, while officials said that 13 people were killed in airstrikes in Lebanon on Friday.
Sixteen people had initially been reported killed in two strikes on Thursday on the Gaza Strip’s central Nuseirat refugee camp, but officials from the Al Aqsa hospital said bodies continued to be brought in.
Overall, the hospital said they had received 21 dead from the strikes, including some transferred from the Awda hospital, where they had been brought the day before.
One of the strikes killed an 18-month-old and his 10-year-old sister — the children’s mother was missing as of Friday and the father was killed by an Israeli airstrike four months ago, the family told the Associated Press at Aqsa hospital.
Strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al-Balah on Friday killed four more people, the hospital officials said, bringing the overall toll to 25.
The Israeli military told the AP that it had hit a Hamas infrastructure site and a militant who was operating in the area of Nuseirat, but did not comment on the other strikes. It said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties and was investigating.
As Israeli airstrikes flatten swaths of Lebanon, groups warn the attacks mirror some of the patterns of destruction and displacement seen in Gaza.
Israel began bombarding Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when the militants killed roughly 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip have since killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, say health officials inside Gaza. Their numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but they say that more than half of the dead are women and children.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday that a total of 55 people had been killed over 24 hours and that another 196 had been wounded.
Despite growing pressure from the United States and others in the international community for a cease-fire both in Gaza and Lebanon, Israel’s air force launched multiple attacks in Lebanon on Friday.
In an attack in the northeastern Baalbek-Hermel region, eight people were killed when a home was hit in the village of Amhaz and two more were killed in the village of Taraya, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
As Israel expands its strikes far from Hezbollah’s bastions into areas where displaced Shiites have fled, fears rise about worsening sectarian tensions.
In recent days, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the northeastern city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as different parts of southern Lebanon.
Three more people were killed and five wounded in an airstrike on the edge of Qamatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
An AP journalist who visited the scene said the strike was closer to the nearby village of Ein al-Rummaneh, adding that it caused minor damage to a first-floor apartment.
Israel’s military said in a statement that attacks “in the area of Beirut” had targeted Hezbollah weapons manufacturing sites, command centers and other infrastructure.
Hezbollah has been seriously weakened militarily in recent weeks, with many of its top leaders killed, and at least some of its arsenal destroyed.
Israeli planes also pounded the Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, overnight, destroying dozens of buildings in several neighborhoods, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.
The early Friday airstrikes on the Dahieh, where Hezbollah dominates, came after a four-day lull during which no airstrikes were reported in the suburb. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets almost daily into Israel.
Jens Laerke of the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, said there has also been a “wave of displacement” in recent days as tens of thousands of people have fled following warnings from Israel’s military that attacks were imminent.
Hezbollah, with the thousands of rockets, drones and missiles it has fired into Israel, aimed to aid Hamas by drawing Israel into a multi-front conflict. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran, Israel’s regional adversary.
Hezbollah critics and supporters alike are voicing frustration over what many view as the group’s miscalculations.
On Thursday, four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer were killed in an agricultural area in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town. The four were among seven people killed Thursday in a series of barrages fired at Israel from Lebanon.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Friday his “personal and heartfelt condolences” went out to the government of Thailand, the Thai people and the families of those killed.
“Hezbollah-Iranian terrorism knows no limits and harms Israelis and civilians from all over the world alike,” he said in a statement.
Cross-border attacks from Hezbollah have killed 41 civilians and 30 soldiers in Israel so far, according to government figures.
Associated Press writer Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Frankel from Jerusalem. Bassem Mroue in Beirut, David Rising in Bangkok, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Los Angeles Times staff contributed to this story.
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