Israeli air assaults claimed the lives of 12 individuals in Gaza, incorporating four individuals who were taking shelter at a camp in a hospital compound for persons displaced by war. At the same time, a knife assault executed by a Palestinian resulted in two fatalities in a Tel Aviv suburb. This has escalated tensions, following approximately 10 months of conflict in Gaza and the murders of two leading militants in diverse strikes in Lebanon and Iran the previous week. These killings provoked the threat of reprisal from Iranian allies, stirring anxiety about the escalation of a more devastating regional conflict.
A female aged in her 70s and a male in his 80s were victims of the knife assault, as reported by Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service and a proximate hospital; with two additional males wounded. Authorities communicated that the assault was executed by a Palestinian combatant, who was subsequently “neutralised”, and that a search for additional suspects was ongoing.
The emergency service detailed that they discovered the victims in locations separated by around 500 metres, increasing concerns about the involvement of more than one attacker. Israel has been preparing for reprisals after the assassination of a senior Hizbullah executive in a strike in Lebanon and Hamas’s leading political figure in Iran the prior week. Both deaths have ties with the extant Gaza conflict, initiated by Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7th.
Earlier on Sunday in Gaza, an Israeli assault aimed at a tent camp in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital’s courtyard, sheltering displaced individuals, led to four deaths, including that of a woman, as well as multiple injuries, as health officials disclosed. No confirmation was provided as to whether the deceased were civilians or combatants.
The aforementioned hospital in Deir al-Balah is the primary health facility still in operation in central Gaza; thousands of refugees have sought refuge here after being displaced from their residences in the battle-ridden region.
Concurrently, another assault totalled a residence in northern Gaza, causing no fewer than eight deaths, including those of three minors, their parents and their grandmother, the ministry reported.
On Saturday, a strike by Israel on a Gaza City school repurposed as a refuge resulted in a minimum of 16 fatalities and injured 21 others, as reported by Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday. The Israeli military, known for accusing Palestinian militants of harbouring in populated areas, stated they targeted a command centre for Hamas.
Last October, militants under Hamas killed roughly 1,200 individuals, primarily non-combatants, and held around 250 people captive during an assault on southern Israel. The aggressive offensive by Israel in Gaza has led to the death of no less than 39,550 Palestinians per the health ministry’s report from this territory, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Extensive air raids and ground operations have caused substantial damage and led to the displacement of a large part of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, often more than once. Hizbullah, frequently exchanging fire with Israel along the Lebanon border since the beginning of the war, purports this act is meant to alleviate stress on its Iranian-backed ally, Hamas. The ongoing assaults and retaliations have escalated in the past few months, stoking concerns about a more devastating regional conflict.
The Palestinian ministry has reported over 590 Palestinian deaths as a result of Israeli gunfire in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, with the majority of the fatalities occurring during Israeli incursions and violent demonstrations. The territories of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, captured by Israel during the Mideast war in 1967, are being sought by Palestinians as part of their future geopolitical domain.