Israeli forces struck areas in the central Gaza Strip today, killing at least nine Palestinians, according to terror organisation Hamas-run health ministry officials, while Israeli tanks carried out a limited advance further into Rafah in the south.
In one Israeli air strike around midnight on a house in Al-Zawyda in the central Gaza Strip, eight people were killed, the health officials said. Another strike killed a man in Nuseirat camp, one of the enclave’s eight refugee camps, where 23 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school a day ago.
Israeli tanks also shelled the eastern areas of Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi camps in the centre of the enclave, residents said. An air strike destroyed a mosque, residents said.
Meanwhile, in Rafah, tanks carried out a raid in the north of the city before retreating, a tactic Israeli forces have used in other areas before mounting deeper incursions. Tanks have operated in most parts of the city since May, although have not gone deep into the northern districts.
Medics said an Israeli strike killed two people in Rafah today, while residents said the forces had blown up dozens of homes. The Israeli military said troops were “continuing precise, intelligence-based operational activity in the Rafah area”. It said it they had eliminated what it called a terrorist cell and a launcher that had been used to fire at troops.
It said airstrikes had struck 25 targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the past day and that troops were continuing to operate in the central area, including dismantling structures used to observe the soldiers.
Nine months into the war, Palestinian fighters led by the Islamist Hamas group are still able to attack Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets, and mortar bombs and from time-to-time fire barrages of rockets into Israel.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its terrorists killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.
On Tuesday, the military said it had eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas’ military wing, with about 14,000 fighters killed or captured since the start of the conflict. Israel says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since then.
(With inputs from Reuters)
