DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, marking one of the highest death tolls since the October ceasefire aimed at halting fighting.
Strikes Across Gaza
The strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including an apartment building in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis, according to hospitals that received the bodies. Casualties included two women and six children from two different families. A strike on a police station in Gaza City killed at least 14 people, including officers, civilians, and inmates, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.
The series of strikes came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is scheduled to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. The territory’s border crossings have been largely closed throughout the war. Palestinians view Rafah as a crucial lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of medical treatment outside Gaza, where much of the medical infrastructure has been destroyed.
The opening of the Rafah crossing, initially limited, represents the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues for this phase, which also includes demilitarizing the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and establishing a new government to oversee reconstruction.
Nasser Hospital reported that the strike on the tent camp caused a fire, killing seven people, including a father, his three children, and three grandchildren. Shifa Hospital said the Gaza City apartment building strike killed three children, their aunt, and grandmother. The strike on the police station resulted in at least 14 deaths.
Hamas called Saturday’s strikes “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop the attacks. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, questioned the legitimacy of a proposed international body to govern Gaza amid the rising casualties.
Israel’s military stated that its attacks since October have been responses to ceasefire violations. The military said Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as violations a day earlier, when at least four militants were killed emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area of Rafah.
The number of Palestinians reported killed Saturday was significantly higher than the daily average since the ceasefire began. As of Friday, Gaza’s Health Ministry had recorded at least 520 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records considered generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Jerusalem.
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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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