This comes as the Israeli army continues its 22nd month of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with recent attacks targeting an apartment building, displaced persons' tents, and civilian gatherings.
Local sources reported early Thursday that three people were killed as a result of artillery shelling targeting a gathering of people waiting for aid near the Qastal Towers, east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Others were injured at the same location.
Local sources reported that Israeli warplanes carried out raids near the Al-Shaheed Mosque in Al-Bureij refugee camp, and others around Hamad City, north of Khan Yunis. The Israeli army also bombed a number of residential homes in the Al-Satar area of Khan Yunis, continuing its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, five Palestinians were killed and 58 others were injured, some seriously, in an Israeli artillery attack targeting people waiting for aid trucks near the Israeli-controlled Zikim area northwest of the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
Three Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a civilian gathering on Al-Ishrin Street in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of victims from five to eight.
In the southern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian was killed and more than 10 others were injured in an attack targeting a tent housing displaced persons in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis. Prior to that, 44 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
East of Gaza City, five Palestinians were killed and others injured in two Israeli airstrikes targeting the Tuffah and Zeitoun neighborhoods, while a Palestinian was killed and another injured in shelling targeting the vicinity of Al-Ibki Mosque in the Al-Daraj neighborhood.
Seven Palestinians, including five children and a fetus that was cut from its mother's womb, were killed and others were injured in an Israeli airstrike that targeted an apartment west of the radio and television building in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City. In al-Shati refugee camp, a Palestinian girl was killed and 11 others, most of them children, were injured in an attack that targeted a tent housing displaced persons in the camp's park, northwest of Gaza City.
In the North Governorate, a paramedic was seriously injured when an Israeli drone targeted a Ministry of Health ambulance near Hamad Hospital (west).
In the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians were able to retrieve the bodies of 12 martyrs from the southern city of Deir al-Balah, after the Israeli army withdrew from the area and military vehicles retreated to the eastern areas.
Two Palestinians were killed; one died from wounds sustained by Israeli drone fire in the Umm Dhahir area southeast of Deir al-Balah, and the other in an Israeli drone strike on a civilian gathering on 20th Street in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Also in the Nuseirat refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike targeting the entrance to 20th Street.
Four Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli attack on civilian gatherings near a US aid distribution point near the Netzarim axis. In the town of Az-Zawayda, a Palestinian was killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting the vicinity of the Ters al-Baba area.
During the night, Israeli artillery and fighter jets heavily bombarded several areas southeast of Deir al-Balah and east of al-Bureij refugee camp, while army vehicles opened heavy fire east of the governorate.
In the southern Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed and 40 others were injured when the Israeli army targeted people waiting for US aid near a distribution center north of Rafah. Four Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting two gatherings of civilians in the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis.
On the humanitarian front, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that 90% of Gaza's population faces difficulty accessing water. He explained that the organization is determined to remain in the Gaza Strip, calling for the protection of its staff and UN agencies.
Ongoing battles with the resistance
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on Wednesday that it had killed and wounded more than 15 Israeli soldiers in three operations against forces advancing into the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip over the past few days.
This came in three statements issued by the Qassam Brigades, in response to the ongoing genocide perpetrated by Israel in the Gaza Strip for nearly 22 months.
The Qassam Brigades said in a statement that its fighters on Tuesday "targeted a Zionist force of seven soldiers with an anti-personnel bomb, killing and wounding them in the Al-Mashrou' Junction area, east of Rafah city, in the southern Gaza Strip," without detailing the number of dead and wounded. It also reported that its fighters monitored "the landing of an evacuation helicopter."
In a second statement, the Qassam Brigades explained that on July 17, its fighters "detonated two anti-personnel bombs targeting an eight-member Zionist engineering force, killing and wounding them near the Deir Yassin junction in the al-Janina neighborhood east of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip," without detailing the number of dead and wounded.
In a third statement, it said that its fighters had managed on the 15th of this month to "lure a Zionist force into a booby trap inside a house."
It continued: "As soon as the soldiers arrived inside the house, the explosive device exploded, killing and wounding members of the force in the Al-Shawka municipality area east of Rafah." In its third statement, the Qassam Brigades did not mention the number of Israeli troops.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army reported that three soldiers, including a faction commander, were seriously injured in fighting across Gaza.
As of Wednesday evening, 894 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 6,112 wounded since the start of the war on Gaza, according to military data, which faces local accusations of concealing even greater losses.
These attacks come as Israel continues its genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, through killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the campaign.
The genocide, with American support, left more than 202,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many, including dozens of children.
