Gaza death toll tops 42,000 as Israel pummels north, while fighting sends 1.2 million fleeing in Lebanon.
An Israeli offensive in northern Gaza has killed dozens and trapped hundreds of thousands over the past 24 hours, say Palestinian officials, while ongoing attacks on Lebanon have sent more people fleeing from the south.
The Israeli military claimed on Wednesday that its fighter jets had hit some 230 targets belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Gaza’s Hamas as fighting intensified in both places. However, civilians have borne much of the brunt, with the latest casualties in Gaza pushing the death toll from the yearlong war in the enclave above 42,000, the Ministry of Health reported.
The Israeli air force attacked about 185 Hezbollah and 45 Hamas targets, including military buildings and infrastructure, observation posts, rocket launchers and operatives, the army said on X.
It also reported that three of its soldiers were severely injured on Tuesday and Wednesday during combat in southern Lebanon.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh with artillery shells and rockets on Wednesday, pushing the troops back.
The escalation in Lebanon, after a year of war in Gaza, has raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict that could suck in Iran and Israel’s iron-clad ally the United States.
Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, most of them in the last two weeks.
It has also forced 1.2 million people from their homes, officials have reported.
On Wednesday, the country’s disaster management authorities said at least 58,898 displaced people fleeing Israeli attacks in southern and eastern parts of the country have sought refuge in the northern districts.
Trapped
At least 45 people were killed in Israeli military strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours, Palestinian medics reported, as Israeli forces pressed on with a raid on the Jabalia refugee camp in the enclave’s north.
The Israeli military says the raid, now in its fifth day, is intended to stop Hamas fighters staging further attacks from Jabalia and to prevent them regrouping.
It has repeatedly issued evacuation orders to residents of Jabalia and nearby areas, but Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe places to flee to in the Gaza Strip.
At least 400,000 people are “trapped” in northern Gaza following Israel’s evacuation orders, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, revealed.
Northern #Gaza: no end to hell.
At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabalia Camp.
Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 9, 2024
Residents of Jabalia said thousands of people have been trapped in their homes since the operation began on Sunday, as Israeli jets and drones buzz overhead and troops battle Palestinian fighters in the streets.
“The quadcopters are everywhere, and they fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” Mohamed Awda told The Associated Press news agency.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the Israeli army ordered three hospitals in the north to evacuate staff and patients.
Hussam Abu Safia, director at Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the facilities ordered to evacuate, told Al Jazeera he feared a repeat of the violence inflicted on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital earlier in the war.
“We cannot leave the hospital because there is no other hospital that is providing services and treatments to children, except Kamal Adwan Hospital,” he added.
