Hamas denies Israeli accusations of using civilians as human shields
Rafa:
Eight Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a training school near Gaza city used to distribute aid, Palestinian witnesses said, as Israeli tanks advanced on the southern city of Rafah.
The attack hit part of a vocational school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which now provides aid to displaced families, witnesses said.
“Some people came to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their homes and were sheltering here. Some were filling water, others were receiving coupons and suddenly we heard something falling. spills,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.
A Reuters photographer saw a low-rise building completely demolished and bodies wrapped in blankets lying on the side of the road, waiting to be taken away.
“We pulled out martyrs (from under the rubble), one who sold cold drinks and another who sold sweets and others who distributed or received coupons,” Tafesh said. “There are about four or five martyrs and 10 injured. Thank God, the condition of the injured is good.”
The Israeli military said the site, which had previously served as UNRWA headquarters, was used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives. It added that precautionary measures were taken before the attack to reduce the risk of harming civilians.
“This morning (Sunday), IAF fighter jets directed by IDF and ISA intelligence attacked terrorist infrastructures in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were operating,” the military said in a statement.
“This is another example of Hamas’ systematic exploitation of civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” he added.
Hamas denies Israeli accusations of using civilians as human shields or using civilian installations for military purposes.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications, said the agency was analyzing the details of the reported attack before providing further information.
“Since the start of the war, we have recorded that almost 190 of our buildings have been hit. This is the vast majority of our buildings in Gaza,” she said. A total of 193 UNRWA staff members were killed in the conflict, she added.
Final of the ‘Intense Phase’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip would end “very soon” but that the war would not end until the Islamist group no longer controlled the Palestinian enclave.
“After the intense phase is over, we will have the possibility of moving part of the forces to the north. And we will do that,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
Israel’s fight against Iranian-backed Hezbollah has intensified on the northern border with Lebanon, where many Israeli cities have been evacuated. Netanyahu said a deployment to the north would allow residents to return home.
Advance to Rafah
More than eight months after Israel’s war began in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, its advance is focused on the two areas its forces have yet to capture – Rafah, on the southern edge of Gaza, and the area surrounding Deir al -Balah, in the center.
Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
The offensive killed nearly 37,600 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left Gaza in ruins.
Residents said Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of the Mawasi displacement camp northwest of Rafah in fierce fighting with Hamas-led fighters, part of an attack west and north of Rafah in which they have blown up dozens of homes in recent times. . days.
“The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are now bypassing the Mawasi area, which has forced families to head towards Khan Younis,” said a resident, who asked not to be named, in an app chat.
The Israeli military said it was continuing “targeted and intelligence-based operations” in the Rafah area and had located weapons depots and tunnel shafts and killed Palestinian gunmen.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets, mortars and pre-planted explosive devices.
Another attack killed two people in Nuseirat, in central Gaza.
In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said two babies died of malnutrition, bringing the number of children who have died of malnutrition or dehydration since October 7 to at least 31, a number that health officials say. reflects underwriting.
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