Israeli tanks on Tuesday swept into parts of the northern Gaza Strip they abandoned weeks ago, while warplanes carried out airstrikes on Rafah, the last Palestinian stronghold in the south of the territory, killing and wounding several, residents and medical workers said.
Locals reported internet outages in the areas of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in northern Gaza. Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoun and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge, local residents and the media of the Palestinian group Hamas said.
“The occupation soldiers ordered to evacuate all families in the schools and nearby houses where the tanks were advancing. The soldiers detained many men,” a resident of northern Gaza told Reuters via a messaging app.
Beit Hanoun, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza last October. Heavy bombing has turned much of Beit Hanoun, once known as the “fruit basket” for its orchards, into a ghost town of rubble.
Many families who returned to Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in recent weeks after the withdrawal of Israeli forces began to move out again on Tuesday due to a new raid, some locals said.
Palestinian health officials said an Israeli attack killed four people and wounded several others in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have taken shelter and are preparing for a planned Israeli ground offensive on the city that borders Egypt.
Just before midnight, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah, killing seven people, including children, and wounding several others, Palestinian health officials said. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
Palestinian health officials and Hamas media reported that an Israeli airstrike also killed 11 Palestinians, including children, in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Israeli military did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry also said an Israeli airstrike hit a police car in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, killing seven policemen, Fena writes.
