DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched “extensive” new ground operations in the Gaza Strip while airstrikes in a new offensive killed at least 103 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said, and forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close.
Airstrikes killed more than 48 people in and around the Palestinian territory’s southern city of Khan Younis, some hitting houses and tents sheltering displaced people, according to Nasser Hospital, which said it struggled to count the dead because of the condition of the bodies. Eighteen children and 13 women were among them, spokesperson Weam Fares said.
In northern Gaza, a strike on a home in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp killed nine members of a family, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency services. Another strike on a residence in Jabaliya killed 10, including seven children and a woman, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
In Gaza City, Um Mahmoud al-Aloul lay across the shrouded body of her daughter, Nour al-Aloul.
“You took my soul with you,” she cried. “I used to turn off my phone from how much you called.
Israel’s military had no immediate comment, but its statement announcing the ground operations said that preliminary strikes over the past week killed dozens of militants and struck more than 670 targets. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates from civilian areas.
ISRAEL LAUNCHES A NEW MILITARY OPERATION IN GAZA TO PRESSURE HAMAS TO RELEASE HOSTAGES
Israel launched the offensive Saturday with the aims of seizing territory, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Gaza’s south and taking greater control of aid distribution.
An Israeli blockade on food, medicine and other supplies is now in its third month, with global food security experts warning of famine across the territory of more than 2 million people.