Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 27 amid ceasefire, while Israel also targets Hezbollah in Lebanon; tensions rise despite US peace plan
GAZA CITY: Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 27 people Wednesday, officials in the Strip said, with Israel and Hamas each accusing the other of violating the fragile ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
The strikes were among the deadliest in Gaza since the truce entered into force last month, and came as Israel also announced a string of attacks targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon in spite of a nearly year-long ceasefire there.
Fourteen people were killed Wednesday in Gaza City in the north and 13 in the Khan Yunis area in the south, according to the territory’s civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority.
Two hospitals contacted by AFP gave the same toll.
The Israeli military said it was striking Hamas after militants opened fire towards an area where troops were operating in the south in “violation of the ceasefire agreement”.
Hamas denied the accusation and denounced the attacks as a “dangerous escalation” that could jeopardise the truce, which has largely held since October 10 despite flare-ups.
Ahraf Abu Sultan, 50, told AFP he had returned to his home in Gaza City with his family on Sunday, after being displaced in the south for a year.
“We barely managed to repair one room in our destroyed house to try and settle down just two days ago, and the bombing and death has started again. They don’t even give us a chance to breathe,” he said.
Fellow Gaza City resident Nivine Ahmed said she had been chatting with a neighbour when Israel’s bombings “turned everything upside down in a second”.
“We heard the sound of explosions and saw the smoke rising. People were running and the ambulance sirens were wailing, carrying away the martyrs,” she said.
“Next time the missile could fall on us.”
Trump peace plan
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by both sides.
The highest daily toll registered since the truce took effect was on October 29, when more than 100 people were killed in Israeli strikes, according to civil defence figures and data received by AFP from five Gaza hospitals.
Israel has carried out repeated strikes against what it says are Hamas targets during the ceasefire, resulting in the death of more than 280 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The truce is based on a US-brokered deal that also included the return to Israel of the last 48 hostages held by militants.
While all the living hostages were handed over early in the ceasefire, the process of returning the dead has been slower, and the bodies of three hostages still remain in Gaza.
The implementation of the second stage of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan has yet to be agreed, particularly as it concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority and deploying an international stabilisation force.
The UN Security Council voted Monday in favour of a US-drafted resolution endorsing Trump’s plan, though Hamas rejected the resolution as failing to meet Palestinians’ “political and humanitarian demands”.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,513 people, according to figures from the health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
Lebanon strikes, Syria visit
Israel also conducted several strikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
The military said it targeted Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in several towns, and accused the Iran-backed group of trying to rebuild its capabilities.
The Israeli military has kept up frequent air strikes in Lebanon in spite of a ceasefire sealed last November that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah.
The raids came a day after 13 people were killed in a strike that Israel said targeted Hamas members in a Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country the deadliest attack in Lebanon since the truce came into effect.
Also on Wednesday, Israel’s top leaders visited Israeli troops stationed inside Syrian territory in a buffer zone intended to separate the two countries’ forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops that their presence was of “immense importance” to Israel’s security.
The visit was sharply condemned by Damascus, which called it “a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. – AFP
