• Warplanes, tanks target refugee camps
• Global concern rises that conflict spreading to other spots
• 120 held, three houses demolished in West Bank

BEIRUT: Israeli shelling killed 14 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip’s south, packed with people who had fled attacks in other parts of the besieged enclave, on Thursday. The dead included nine children, an official said.

All the 14 Palestinians were killed in a strike at Al Mawasi camp, to the west of Khan Yunis.

Gaza residents said Israeli planes and tanks bombarded three refugee camps in the centre of the shattered enclave, prompting many civilians to head south.

Israeli shells had landed near tents erected in the area by displaced people, they said.

Footage on Palestinian media showed several bodies wrapped in blankets inside a hospital morgue in Khan Yunis.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its headquarters in Khan Yunis was hit, killing one person and wounding others.

The Israeli military reported several clashes in Khan Yunis, where it has said previously that it is trying to capture “Hamas leaders hiding there”.

In its daily briefing, it said Israeli warplanes killed three Hamas members who had tried to detonate explosives next to ground troops, and Israeli soldiers killed two more. Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Al Nusseirat refugee camp on Wednesday, health officials said.

The Gaza crisis is nearing the three-month mark amid international concern that it is spreading to other spots, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Fears were heightened after a drone strike killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al Aruri in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his powerful militia “cannot be silent” following the killing.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari declined to comment when asked what Israel was doing to prepare for a potential Hezbollah response, saying only: “We are focused on the fight against Hamas.”

‘New reality’

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, meeting US envoy Amos Hoch­stein, said there must be a “new reality” in the Lebanon-Israel border region which would allow Israelis who have evacuated northern areas to return.

Hezbollah has been embroiled in nearly daily exchanges of shelling with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza crisis began on Oct 7. Israel neither confirmed nor denied assassinating Aruri.

The recorded Palestinian death toll reached 22,438 on Thursday — almost one per cent of its 2.3 million population, Gaza Strip’s health ministry said. Some 125 of these were killed since Wednesday, it added.

Adding to the patchwork of bloodshed across the region, two explosions killed nearly 100 people during a memorial ceremony on Wednesday for the late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani at the cemetery in south-eastern Iran where he is buried.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, to continue “diplomatic consultations”, a US official said.

Mud adds to misery

Israeli bombardments have flattened much of the densely populated enclave and created a humanitarian disaster.

Most Gazans have been left homeless, with food shortages threatening famine.

On Thursday, people poured out of Al Bureij, Al Maghazi and Al Nusseirat refugee camps following attacks, with some families riding on donkey carts loaded with mattresses, luggage and children. Rain has turned earth to mud, adding to the misery.

While Israel has pledged to eradicate Hamas, its long-term plans for the enclave are unclear. Foreign governments and organisations have said any solution must address Palestinian aspirations for an independent state, but that seems distant.

In Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Palestinians also seek statehood, Israeli forces searched houses at the Nour Al Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarm city.

Residents said troops detained 120 people and demolished three houses, including one belonging to a member of the Tulkarm Brigades, a group linked to the Palestinian faction Fatah.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2024