AFP,
Palestinian Territories
Gaza’s civil defence agency yesterday said 30 people, including 13 children, were killed in Israeli strikes on two houses in the north of the Palestinian territory.
The first strike early yesterday hit a house in Jabalia, northern Gaza, killing “at least 25” people, including 13 children, and injuring more than 30, civil defence said.
Since October 6, the Israeli military has been engaged in a withering air and ground assault on areas of northern Gaza, including Jabalia, saying they are seeking to stop Hamas from regrouping there.
Another strike on the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City killed five people, with others still missing in the aftermath, civil defence said. “A number of civilians are still under the rubble,” the agency added.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “looking into the reports” of the strikes.
Israel’s offensive has killed 43,603 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
The United Nations human rights (OHCHR) office on Friday condemned the number of civilians killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.
Meanwhile, Qatar has suspended its role as a key mediator for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in talks, the foreign ministry said.
Israel’s main military backer the United States had on October 15 warned that it could withhold some of its billions of dollars in military assistance unless it improves aid delivery to the Gaza Strip within 30 days.
With that deadline fast approaching, there has been little sign of improving conditions, with a UN-backed assessment on Saturday warning famine is imminent in northern Gaza.
Aid shipments allowed to enter the Gaza Strip were now lower than at any time since October 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report.