Israel continues to pound Gaza as toll of martyred Palestinians rises to 6,546
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military intensified its bombing of southern Gaza overnight after one of the deadliest days for Palestinians since the conflict began, amid international calls for a pause in fighting to let aid into the enclave and prevent many more deaths.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Wednesday that 6,546 people have been martyred in the territory. The death toll includes 2,704 children. A total of 17,439 people have also been wounded since the conflict erupted on October 7.
Health officials in Gaza said that dozens more people had been killed in the south, where hundreds of thousands fled after Israel warned them. One strike brought down several apartment buildings in Khan Younis. "This is something not normal, we have not heard something like this before," resident Khader Abu Odah said.
Palestinian anger over the killings has been increased by a sense of betrayal as many of those who obeyed the order to move south are also being killed. The Israeli military says that Hamas, which rules Gaza, has entrenched itself among the civilian population everywhere. Israel said strikes on Gaza over the previous 24 hours had eliminated Hamas operatives including the head of the Hamas battalion for southern Khan Younis, Tayseer Bebasher.
Tunnel shafts, command centres, weapons caches and launch positions were targeted, as well as a cell of Hamas divers trying to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim, the military added. In Gaza City in the north, rescue workers pulled an apparently lifeless young child out of rubble before trying to calm an agitated, partially buried man crying out his family's names. "They are OK, I swear," one rescuer said in video footage from the scene.
FIGHTING IN LEBANON, SYRIA FUELS REGION'S FEARS
Israeli jets also struck Syrian army infrastructure in response to rockets launched from Syria, an ally of Iran, the Israeli military said, fuelling concerns that its conflict with Hamas, also backed by Iran, will ignite the wider region.
Syria's state news agency said the Israeli attack killed eight soldiers and wounded seven more near the southwestern city of Deraa. Israel did not accuse Syria's army of firing the two rockets, which set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, giving no details on the suspected perpetrators.
Israeli forces hit five squads in Lebanon preparing anti-armour missile attacks or rocket launches, spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group said four more of its fighters had been killed, increasing the death toll in its ranks to 42 since the start of the conflict.
GAZA HOSPITALS RUNNING OUT OF FUEL
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health clinics had shut due to damage or lack of fuel. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, warned that it would have to halt operations in Gaza on Wednesday night if supplies of fuel were not allowed in as it would run out. However, the Israeli military on Tuesday reaffirmed it would bar the entry of fuel to prevent Hamas from seizing it.
Qatari mediators are urging Hamas to quicken the pace of hostage releases to include women and children, and without Israeli concessions, three diplomats and a source familiar with the talks said. The Gulf state, in coordination with the US, is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israel over the hostage release. Hamas has so far released four hostages - a mother and daughter with dual U.S.-Israel nationality on Friday and two Israeli civilian women on Monday.
