Palestinians in northern Gaza described heavy Israeli bombing in the hours after Saturday's airstrike that killed at least 22 people, as Israel continues to urge residents of the country and southern Lebanon to move out of the way of an offensive against Hamas militant groups and Hezbollah.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said its headquarters in Nakora was hit again and that one peacekeeper was wounded by gunfire late Friday and his condition was stable. It is unclear who fired the shots. The shooting occurred a day after the Israeli military opened fire on its headquarters for the second day in a row.
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Israel, which has warned peacekeepers to leave their positions, did not immediately respond to questions.
Residents of northern Gaza said they had not received any aid since the beginning of the month, prompting renewed warnings of famine. The UN World Food Program says no food aid has arrived in the north since October 1. It is estimated that there are about 400,000 people there.
The Israeli army resumed its offensive in northern Gaza almost a week ago, while intensifying air and ground operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the seaside district of Jarout on the outskirts of Barja, south of Beirut, and the health ministry said four people were killed. The ministry said five people were killed in another airstrike in the village of Maisra, northeast of Beirut.
Hezbollah continues to shell Israel.
We will support the Lebanese and Palestinian people in this difficult situation, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said during a visit to the site of the Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Saturday.
The people of Gaza are trapped
Residents in northern Gaza told The Associated Press that many people were trapped in their homes and shelters as supplies ran out, and bodies were not being collected on the streets as bombing hampered rescue efforts.
Those who rushed to the site of the latest deadly airstrike on the Jabalia urban refugee camp found a 20-meter-deep crater where a house once stood.
Emergency services reported that at least 20 bodies had been recovered by Saturday morning, with others possibly trapped under the rubble. Elsewhere in Jabalia, two brothers were killed and a woman and a newborn were injured in an attack on a house, officials said.
Another afternoon attack attacked a house in Jabalia, killing at least four people, including a woman, said Fares Abu Hamza, an emergency services official.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack. Military spokesman Avichay Adrai told residents of Jabalia and parts of Gaza City to move south to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone because Israel plans to use heavy force and will do so for a long time.
Israel has repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza as Hamas and other militants regrouped. The war has devastated large swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 90 percent of its 2.3 million population, often multiple times.
“It's like the first day of the war,” said Ahmed Abu Goneim, a resident of Jabalia. The occupiers are doing everything to uproot us. But we won't give up.
The 24-year-old said Israeli warplanes and drones struck multiple neighboring homes last week, killing 15 relatives and neighbors in neighboring homes, including four women and five children under the age of 3. He said there were dead bodies in the streets and no one could save them because of the bombings.
Hamza Sharif, who lives with his family in a shelter-turned-school in Jabalia, described constant bombing day and night.
He added that the shelter had not received help since the beginning of the month. Families are using what they have saved, but they will soon run out of supplies, he added.
The food is running out
The World Food Program said it was unclear how long the limited food supplies previously distributed to the northern Gaza Strip would last.
Last month, the UN's independent investigator on the right to food accused Israel of carrying out a hunger strike against Palestinians, which Israel denies.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza began after the Hamas attack on October 7, when militants entered Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250.
The Israeli offensive has killed 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who did not specify whether combatants or civilians. Gaza's health ministry said hospitals received the bodies of 49 people killed in the last 24 hours.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)