CAIRO: Israeli forces pounded several areas across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing 30 Palestinians, as tanks advanced deeper into western and northern parts of Rafah.

Among those killed on Saturday were journalist Mohammad Abu Jasser, his wife, and two children, in an Israeli strike on their house in the northern Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Hamas-run media office said Abu Jasser’s death raised to 161 the number of Palestinian media personnel killed by Israeli fire since Oct 7.

Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 37 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and destroyed several houses. In Al Nuseirat, a camp in central Gaza Strip, an air strike on a multi-floor building wounded several people, including two local journalists, rescue workers said.

Yemen’s port targeted in air strike by Israeli forces

In Rafah, where Israel said it aimed to dismantle the last battalions of Hamas’s armed wing, residents said tanks advanced deeper into northern areas of the city and took control of a hilltop in the west, amid fierce gun battles with Hamas.

The Israeli army said troops continued operations in Rafah, claiming that it had eliminated many Hamas members near Tel Al Sultan, on the western side of the city. In central Gaza, the military claimed, it conducted raids on infrastructure.

The Israeli military also said it “hit a structure” used by Palestinians in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, alleging that Hamas members were operating from a “humanitarian area”.

A ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt, and backed by the United States, has so far failed due to disputes between the combatants, who blame each other for the impasse.

Israel claimed earlier this week that it had eliminated half the leadership of Hamas. Tel Aviv also claimed that 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since October last year.

Lebanese front

On the other hand, Hezbollah and its ally Hamas said they launched rocket barrages at Israeli positions on Saturday to avenge a strike that injured civilians in south Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Syrian nationals, including children, had been injured after an “enemy drone targeted an empty four-wheel drive” near their tent, less than four kilometres from the border.

Dr Mouenes Kalakesh, who heads the Marjayoun government hospital, said a woman and her three children, two of them minors, had been admitted for shrapnel injuries after the strike outside Burj Al Muluk.

Among them was an 11-year-old boy in critical condition after he sustained shrapnel injuries and a head wound.

Hezbollah said it launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets” on Dafna, an area in Israel’s north that the group said it was targeting for the first time, “in response to the attack on civilians”.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned his Iran-backed group would hit new targets in Israel if more civilians were killed in Israeli strikes.

Later on Saturday, Hamas said it fired a rocket salvo from south Lebanon towards an Israeli military position in the Upper Galilee “in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians in Gaza Strip”.

The Israeli army said a total of 45 “projectiles” had been fired from Lebanon on Saturday afternoon towards the occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee.

Israeli strikes target Yemen’s port

Israeli air strikes targeted the Houthi-held Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Saturday, according to Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Yemen-based movement.

The strikes against oil facilities in the port caused fatalities, Al Masirah TV added.

On Friday, a long-range drone hit the centre of Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by Houthis and which killed one man and wounded four others, the Israeli military said.

Asked about the latest incident, the Israeli military said: “We do not comment on reports in foreign media.”

The Houthis have stepped up attacks against Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip on Oct 7.

Nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2024