JERUSALEM: A day after its strikes on Iran sparked concerns of a wider war, Israel continued to bombard Hamas and Hezbollah targets in Gaza and Lebanon on Sunday, showing no signs of stopping the fighting.
As negotiations to establish a truce in Qatar continued, Palestinian sources reported that 45 Palestinians were killed by the strikes, the most of them were in the northern part of the enclave.
Over the course of the day, the Israeli military said it had killed 70 Hezbollah fighters, hit 120 targets in Lebanon, and conducted “precision strikes” on weapons manufacturing and storage facilities in the group’s heartland in southern Beirut.
According to the report, five Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon, increasing the total number of soldiers killed there since the ground battle began on September 30 to 37.
Iran claimed it had a “duty” to react to the Israeli airstrikes on Saturday that killed four soldiers, but the military stated that a truce in Gaza and Lebanon was its top priority.
While claiming that Saturday’s attack was “precise and powerful, achieving all of its objectives,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also appeared to suggest that Israel was finished attacking Iran.
Israeli forces are once more conducting an air and ground campaign in the northern part of Gaza, which they claim is intended to stop Hamas from reorganizing.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top leader of Iran, stated on social media on Sunday that the Israeli attack “should neither be exaggerated nor minimized.”
Israel should “understand the strength, will, and initiative of the Iranian nation and youth,” he stated.
Iran is prioritizing the formation of a permanent truce in Gaza and Lebanon, the armed forces general staff has previously stated, even as it “reserves its legal and legitimate right to respond at the appropriate moment.”
Focus on Jabalia
According to medical professionals and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, an airstrike on homes in the Jabalia refugee camp earlier killed 20 people.
Nine people were killed and twenty injured in an Israeli strike on a school in the Shati camp that was providing shelter to displaced families, according to the report. Video showed bodies on the ground and people running to the explosion scene.
According to Hamas media, three journalists were among those slain at the school: Hanin Baroud, Hamza Abu Selmeya, and Saed Radwan, chief of digital media at Hamas Al-Aqsa television.
A truck crashes into a crowd.
In central Israel, a truck driver struck a group of people waiting at a bus stop, injuring 29, according to police and medical officials.
According to police, bystanders at the scene of the truck ramming incident in Ramat Hasharon “shot the truck driver and neutralized him.”
The “heroic ramming attack” near the “Mossad headquarters… was in response to the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation” against Palestinians, according to a statement from Hamas.
In addition, a guy was slain in the Hizma neighborhood near Jerusalem after attempting to stab Israeli soldiers.
Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN, expressed his dismay at the “shocking levels of death, injury, and destruction” that Israel is causing in Gaza. According to Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesperson, “the situation of Palestinian civilians trapped in north Gaza is intolerable.”
“With few exceptions, Israeli authorities continue to deny repeated attempts to deliver humanitarian supplies necessary for survival — food, medicine, and shelter — putting countless lives in danger,” Dujarric stated.
He added that the Secretary-General reaffirmed his demands for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all prisoners, and international law accountability for crimes committed in the name of humanity.
According to an individual who spoke to Reuters, the directors of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the CIA were scheduled to meet with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha as efforts to negotiate a truce were restarted in the country.
Hamas is adamant that any deal must put an end to the conflict and remove Israeli forces from Gaza, a Palestinian official told Reuters.
