The Israeli army said it has attacked a Hamas military site from which the militant group planned to launch strikes into Israel – a day after hundreds were killed by fresh attacks on Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) targeted the site in northern Gaza overnight as it was where “preparations were being made to fire projectiles at Israeli territory”, the military said in a statement.
The Israeli navy also struck several vessels in the coastal area of Gaza as they were intended to be used for “terrorist activities”, the IDF claimed.
It comes after Israel resumed its airstrikes in the besieged enclave on Tuesday, killing at least 413 people and injuring a further 562, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
A pregnant woman, her child and a young man were among the 14 people reportedly killed in more strikes overnight, Gazan Quds News reported, quoting medical sources.
The three were killed in the early hours of Wednesday following an Israeli airstrike on a displaced people’s tent in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis.
On Wednesday, Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for different areas across the Gaza Strip and told people to move to known shelters in Khan Younis and western Gaza City.
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Why is Israel bombing Gaza?
Israel resumed its powerful military campaign in Gaza on Tuesday, putting an end to a ceasefire which brought almost two months of relative peace in the war-torn area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of about 250 hostages Israel says the group seized in its 7 October 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.
UN’s chief Antonio Guterres reacted to Israel’s actions as he said on X: “I am outraged by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
“I strongly appeal for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be re-established and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally.”
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The site of an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people in Khan Younis.
Pic: Reuters
Palestinians search for their belongings among the rubble of their destroyed homes, following Israeli airstrikes on Khan Yunis. Pic: AP
More than one million people risked being left without food parcels in March if aid was not allowed into Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported the Food Security Sector as saying.
The war, sparked by Hamas’ 7 October 2023 killing of 1,200 people and capture of 250 more in southern Israel, has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in the Strip, Gazan health officials say.
