Israel bombed the northern Gaza Strip overnight, one of the heaviest bombings in recent weeks, causing panic among residents and razing neighborhoods in an area from which the Israeli army had already withdrawn troops, residents said Tuesday.
Army tanks carried out a new incursion east of Beit Hanoun in the far northern Gaza Strip, although they did not penetrate far into the city, residents and Hamas media said. The shots hit some schools where displaced people were taking refuge.
In Israel, where government offices and businesses were closed to mark the Jewish holiday, rocket warnings were sounded in southern border towns, although no casualties were reported.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a group allied with Hamas, has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks in Sderot and Nir Am, indicating that fighters are still capable of launching them after nearly 200 days of war that have flattened large swaths of the country. enclave and displaced its inhabitants. almost all of its 2.3 million inhabitants.
Thick black smoke could be seen rising in northern Gaza from Israel’s southern border. The shelling was intense east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia and continued into Tuesday morning in areas including Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest suburbs, with residents reporting at least 10 attacks in a matter of seconds along the main road .
West of Beit Hanoun, in Beit Lahiya, Hamas medics and media said the attacks hit a mosque and a crowd gathered on the coastal road to receive aid dropped by planes. Reuters could not immediately confirm these targets.
“It was one of those nights of horror that we experienced at the beginning of the war. The bombing from tanks and planes did not stop,” said Um Mohammad, 53, a mother of six who lives 700 meters from Zeitoun.
“I had to gather with my children and sisters who came to shelter with me in one place and pray for our lives, because the house wouldn’t stop shaking,” she told Reuters via a chat app.
“I don’t know if we will be able to survive before this war ends,” he added.
The Israeli army said rockets fired at Israel overnight came from firing positions in northern Gaza. The Israeli army struck rocket launchers and killed several militants overnight in what it called “targeted and precise” attacks.
“Over the past day, fighter jets and other IAF aircraft struck around 25 terrorist targets across the Gaza Strip, including military infrastructure, observation posts, terrorist and launch sites,” it said in a statement.
The renewed bombing of northern Gaza comes nearly four months after the Israeli army announced the withdrawal of its troops from there, saying Hamas no longer controlled those areas.
This month, Israel also withdrew most of its forces in southern Gaza. But efforts to reach a ceasefire have failed, and Israeli bombings and attacks on territory where troops have retreated are making it difficult for displaced Gazans to return to their abandoned homes. Israel also attacked Khan Younis in the south on Tuesday, a day after tanks overran the eastern parts of the city.
Israel says it is trying to eradicate Hamas, which controls the enclave, following the militant group’s October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli calculations.
Across the Gaza Strip, Israeli military strikes have killed 32 Palestinians and injured 59 others in the past 24 hours, according to Palestinian health authorities. More than 34,000 people are said to have been confirmed dead in the seven months of war, with thousands more bodies yet to be discovered.
Source: Terra
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