Jerusalem, Aug 22 (EFE).- At least 20 people have died in Israeli bombings throughout the Gaza Strip in recent hours as the army intensifies its attacks in the center and south of the enclave.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) justified its attacks by claiming it had detected Palestinian militants and infrastructure in the areas.
“Based on precise IDF intelligence indicating the presence of terrorist infrastructure and Hamas terrorists in the Khan Younis area and the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, IDF troops have intensified their operational activities in the area,” said a military statement on Thursday.
At least 11 people were killed in an Israeli bombing in the early hours of the morning against a family residence in the town of Beit Lahia, in the north of the enclave, according to Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal.
Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported that most of the victims were women and children who arrived at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia with severe burns, with others still under the rubble.
Three other bodies were unearthed by Civil Defense rescue teams after an attack on an apartment building in Jabalia refugee camp, also in northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and four others wounded in an Israeli overnight bombardment of a house in Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the Strip, very close to the town of Deir al Balah, which is the target of a ground incursion.
The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Thursday that thousands of people from Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, including its staff, are fleeing, following the latest Israeli evacuation orders, to the ever-shrinking humanitarian zone of Mawasi, on the Gaza coast, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crowded in dire conditions.
“With the constant bombardments forcing people to seek shelter in a shrinking space, conditions are worsening and diseases will continue to spread, impacting the most vulnerable, such as children,” warned MSF medical coordinator Julie Faucon in a statement.
Faucon said that her teams are observing an increase in skin infections, such as scabies, as a result of the lack of water and hygiene products, such as soap, which do not pass the Israeli access controls to Gaza.
The Israeli army said Thursday that in the past day it has eliminated some 50 suspected Palestinian fighters in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, the southernmost city in the Strip, where troops have been carrying out a ground incursion since early May to eliminate the so-called “Rafah brigade” of Hamas.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that the four battalions that make up the brigade have been eliminated, but did not address the end to hostilities in the area, where they have closed the border crossing to Egypt, through which most of the humanitarian aid used to enter.
The permanence of Israeli troops on the Gaza border with Egypt is one of the main issues preventing the signing of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. The Israeli authorities refuse to abandon it as they say the crossing can be used by the Islamist group to resupply.
Hamas rejects any agreement that does not involve the complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Strip.
The current war broke out on Oct. 7 last year after a Hamas attack on Israel that left some 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.
Since then, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 40,100, left more than 92,800 wounded, 10,000 missing under the rubble and 1.9 million displaced and now experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. EFE
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