By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
At least 26 people were killed and 93 wounded after Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, Gaza’s government media office said.
Palestinian health officials said at least 20 other people had also been killed since Saturday night in northern Gaza, after the Israeli military sent tanks into areas there for the first time in months and urged residents to leave.
The military said it had conducted “precise strikes on Hamas terrorists” who were operating within command-and-control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque, in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The Associated Press says at least 19 people were killed at the mosque.
Hamas, which runs Gaza’s government, rejects accusations it uses civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques for military purposes.
“The mosque has been here for 20 years, and the neighbourhood has displaced people,” said the imam, Ahmed Fleet, as he retrieved Qur’ans from the debris. “I was shocked when it was struck.”
Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza nearly a year after the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack, and has opened a new front in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began. Israel has also vowed to strike Iran itself after it launched a ballistic missile attack on the country last week.
Kibbutz Nir Oz was one of the first Israeli communities attacked by Hamas militants in the morning hours of Oct. 7, 2023. That day, the kibbutz was home to 400 people in the south of Israel, about three kilometers from the boundary with Gaza. A year later, survivors continue to grapple with the devastation.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza. On Sunday, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported at least 41,870 people in Gaza have been killed in the past year. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but says many of the dead were women and children.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
The International Committee of the Red Cross urged all parties to ensure all civilians were protected.
“This is a year marked by heartbreak and unanswered questions,” it said. “Families have been torn apart, with many loved ones still held against their will. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced across the region.”
The Gaza government’s media office said Israel had struck 27 houses, schools and displacement shelters across Gaza in the past 48 hours.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, where Israeli forces have been operating since May.
New evacuation orders for central Gaza
The Israeli army on Saturday issued new evacuation orders in parts of Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, just north of Deir al-Balah, forcing hundreds of families to leave their houses. The military statement said its forces aimed to operate against Hamas militants who waged attacks from the territory.
Israeli tanks pushed into the northern Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia overnight, and planes hit several houses, killing at least 20 people, according to medics.
The Israeli military said its forces had encircled the area of Jabalia, the focus of its operations.
In one airstrike, 10 people were killed in one house, and five others in another strike on a second home. Residents described it as one of the worst nights in many months.
The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and smaller factions said fighters were engaged in gun battles with Israeli forces in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps.
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The Israeli military said its forces were operating in Jabalia to fight Hamas militants, dismantle military infrastructure and prevent Hamas from regrouping.
“Before the start of the operation, the air force attacked dozens of military targets to support the manoeuvring forces, including weapons depots, underground structures, terrorist cells, and additional military structures,” the Israeli military statement said.
“The operation will continue as necessary, with systematic strikes and the radical destruction of terrorist structures in the region.”
It directed residents to head toward a humanitarian-designated area in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian and UN officials say no place in the enclave is safe, including the humanitarian zones.
Among those killed in north Gaza on Sunday was a local journalist, Hassan Hamad. His death raised to 175 the number of Palestinian journalists killed since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza government’s media office.
Airstrikes continue in Lebanon
In Beirut throughout Saturday night and into Sunday, airstrikes lit up the skyline and loud explosions echoed across the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh as Israel struck what it said were Hezbollah militant sites. The strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.
Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with some intercepted.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson issued new evacuation alerts on Sunday for residents of around 25 areas in southern Lebanon, calling on them to head immediately to the north of the Awali River.
At least 1,400 Lebanese — including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters — have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks, officials say. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from its border so that tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return to their homes.
Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel’s military have traded fire almost daily.
Last week, Israel launched what it said was a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top command. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.
It is not possible to verify battlefield reports from either side.
UN refugee agency head urges stop to ‘carnage’
Filippo Grandi, chief of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was in Lebanon on Sunday and urged a halt to the fighting.
He alleged that Israel’s strikes on Lebanon have violated international humanitarian law by hitting civilian infrastructure and killing civilians.
“Unfortunately, many instances of violations of international humanitarian law, in the way the airstrikes are conducted that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure, have killed civilians, have impacted humanitarian operations,” he told media in Beirut.
Grandi also said all parties to the conflict in the Middle East, and those with influence on them, should “stop this carnage” in both Gaza and Lebanon.
He said the World Health Organization briefed him “about egregious violations of [international humanitarian law] in respect of health facilities in particular that have been impacted in various locations of Lebanon.”
Attacks on civilian homes may also be violations, though the matter requires further assessment, he said.
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