According to local officials, Israel’s military has killed at least 21 individuals in Gaza through a series of airstrikes. Tuesday’s bombings coincided with increased violence within the Palestinian enclave and new incursions throughout the occupied West Bank. As the world’s attention is focused on the Israeli military’s attack on Lebanon, violence has returned to the Palestinian territory.
Thirteen people were confirmed killed, including women and children, in an overnight attack on two houses in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported. Dozens of people were also injured in the attack
The Israeli military stated in a statement that an airstrike on a Gaza City compound that had once been a school had targeted Hamas fighters operating from a command center, but it did not immediately comment on that strike. In its statement, it charged that Hamas was utilizing civilian infrastructure and people for military gains. Hamas has routinely refuted such charges despite the fighting that has continued since last October.
Palestinian families who had been displaced were being housed in the former Shujayea School in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, which also reported that at least seven people had died.
Five Palestinians were killed in two other Israeli attacks, one in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City and the other in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, six individuals were reportedly killed in a strike on tents housing displaced people in Khan Younis, which is located to the south of the enclave; however, the occurrences are still under investigation.
Separate claims from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the armed branch of Hamas, and other smaller militant groups claimed that their fighters had used anti-tank rockets, mortar fire, and explosive devices to assault Israeli soldiers that were operating in various parts of Gaza.