Israeli airstrike on mosque in Gaza Strip kills 19 people, attacks in southern Beirut increase

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli attack on a mosque in the Gaza Strip early Sunday killed at least 19 people, Palestinian officials said, as Israel stepped up its bombardment of northern Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon an expanding war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region.

A year after the group’s attack, Israel is still fighting Hamas October 7 attack against Israel and has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has been providing fire along the border with Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Israel has vowed to attack Iran itself following Tehran’s attack a ballistic missile attack about Israel last week.

The worsening conflict poses the risk that the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel, will become even more involved in the conflict. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have engaged in long-range attacks on Israel.

First responders said one person died and ten were injured in a knife and gunshot attack at the central bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. Police did not identify the attacker but said they considered it a terrorist attack.

Israel is on high alert ahead of commemorations of the October 7 attack.

Israel issues new evacuation orders in the northern Gaza Strip

The Israeli attack hit a mosque where displaced people were seeking refuge near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike at a school-turned-housing facility near the city. The Israeli military said both attacks targeted militants, without providing evidence.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies in the mortuary of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Hospital records revealed that those killed in the mosque were all men.

The Israeli military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, where a contemporary refugee camp was located the 1948 war over the creation of Israel. Over the course of the war, Israel conducted several major operations there, but then the militants regrouped.

The military also said three soldiers were seriously injured in Sunday’s fighting in northern Gaza.

Israel repeated its call from the first weeks of the war for a complete evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip. It is estimated that up to 300,000 people remained in the badly damaged north, while around a million fled to the south.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” A later statement said three projectiles had been identified as entering Israeli territory from the northern Gaza Strip, with no injuries reported.

Palestinians reported serious Israeli attacks. Civil Defense – first responders operating under the Hamas-led government – said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a house in the Shati refugee camp.

The residents mourned their relatives. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook that a dozen family members, including his parents, were killed in an airstrike on his home in Jabaliya. Saeed Abu Elaish, a health ministry medic, said he was injured.

“Pray for us,” he wrote on Facebook.

Hassan Hamd, a freelance television journalist whose footage was broadcast on Al Jazeera, was killed in a shelling at his home in Jabaliya. Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter in northern Gaza, confirmed his death.

The Israeli military says it has expanded the so-called humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people have done it sought refuge in sprawling tent camps with little food, water and toilets. Israel has carried out attacks in the humanitarian zone against militants allegedly hiding among civilians.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It is not said how many fighters there were, but it is said that just over half were women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage in the Oct. 7 attack. They are still holding around 100 prisoners, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel bombs southern Beirut

In Beirut, airstrikes lit up the skyline and explosions echoed overnight in the southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh as Israel reportedly struck Hezbollah militant sites.

It was the heaviest bombardment since September 23, when Israel escalated its airstrikes. According to Lebanon’s state news agency National News Agency, the area has been hit by more than 30 attacks.

“Yesterday was a tragic night; it was very difficult. “All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” said resident Haytham Al-Darazi. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”

The targets included a gas station on the main road leading to Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the news agency said. Some attacks resulted in a series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition depots were hit.

The Israeli military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 130 projectiles crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon and some were intercepted.

Hezbollah said it successfully attacked a group of Israeli soldiers in northern Israel “with a large barrage of rockets, hitting them precisely.”

It is not possible to verify battlefield reports from both sides.

At least 1,400 Lebaneseincluding civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, were killed and 1.2 million forced from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it wants to expel the militant group from its border so that tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

Hezbollah, Lebanon’s strongest military force, began firing rockets at Israel almost immediately after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and the Israeli military engage in firefights almost every day.

Last week, Israel launched what it said was a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon after a series of attacks Longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in ground fighting that Israel said killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Macron calls for a partial arms embargo against Israel

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel – a demand that drew an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a statement, Macron’s office said he supported a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza, saying a ceasefire was needed to stop increasing violence and “clear the way for the political solutions necessary for the security of Israel and the entire Middle East.” East are required”. .”

Macron’s previous, similar comments prompted Netanyahu to release a statement calling such calls a “disgrace.”

Macron’s office insisted that “France is Israel’s steadfast friend” and called Netanyahu’s comments “excessive.”

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

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