By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -Eight Palestinians had been killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a coaching faculty close to Gaza Metropolis getting used to distribute help, Palestinian witnesses mentioned, as Israeli tanks pushed additional into the southern metropolis of Rafah.
The strike hit a part of a vocational faculty run by the U.N. Palestinian refugee company UNRWA that’s now offering help to displaced households, the witnesses mentioned.
“Some people were coming to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their houses and they were sheltering here. Some were filling up water, others were receiving coupons, and suddenly we heard something falling. We ran away, those who were carrying water let it spill,” mentioned Mohammed Tafesh, one of many witnesses.
A Reuters photographer noticed a low-rise constructing fully demolished and our bodies wrapped in blankets laid out beside the highway, ready to be taken away.
“We pulled out martyrs (from beneath the rubble), one who used to sell cold drinks and another who used to sell pastries and others who distributed or received coupons,” Tafesh mentioned. “There are about four or five martyrs and 10 injured. Thank God, the condition of the injured is good.”
The Israeli army mentioned the location, which it mentioned had served up to now as a UNRWA headquarters, has been utilized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. It added that precautionary measures had been taken earlier than the strike to scale back the danger of harming civilians.
“This morning (Sunday), IAF fighter jets directed by IDF and ISA intelligence struck terrorist infrastructure in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were operating,” the army mentioned in a press release.
“This is another example of Hamas’ systematic exploitation of civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” it added.
Hamas denies Israeli accusations that it makes use of civilians as human shields or civilian amenities for army functions.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, mentioned the company was wanting into particulars of the reported assault earlier than offering extra info.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have recorded that nearly 190 of our buildings have been hit. This is the vast majority of our buildings in Gaza,” she mentioned. A complete of 193 UNRWA staff members have been killed within the battle, she added.
Simply after midnight, an Israeli air strike hit a clinic in Gaza Metropolis, killing the director of ambulance and emergency providers on the territory’s well being ministry, Hani Al-Jaafarwi, and one other medical staffer, Hamas media mentioned. There was no instant Israeli remark.
‘INTENSE PHASE’ ENDING
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned on Sunday that the part of intense combating towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip would finish “very soon” however that the conflict wouldn’t finish till the Islamist group not controls the Palestinian enclave.
“After the intense phase is finished, we will have the possibility to move part of the forces north. And we will do this,” Netanyahu mentioned in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
Israel’s combating towards Iran-backed Hezbollah has escalated on the northern border with Lebanon, the place many Israeli cities have been evacuated. Netanyahu mentioned a northern deployment would enable residents to return dwelling.
Greater than eight months into Israel’s conflict within the Hamas-administered Palestinian enclave, its advance is targeted on the 2 areas its forces have but to grab – Rafah on Gaza’s southern tip and the realm surrounding Deir al-Balah within the centre.
Israel’s floor and air marketing campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing round 1,200 folks and seizing greater than 250 hostages, based on Israeli tallies.
The Israeli offensive in retaliation has killed nearly 37,600 folks, based on Palestinian well being authorities, and has left Gaza in ruins.
Residents mentioned Israeli tanks had superior to the sting of the Mawasi displaced individuals’ camp within the northwest of Rafah in fierce combating with Hamas-led fighters, a part of a push into western and northern Rafah throughout which that they had blown up dozens of homes in current days.
“The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis,” mentioned one resident, who requested to not be named, on a chat app.
The Israeli army mentioned it was persevering with “intelligence-based, targeted operations” within the Rafah space and had positioned weapons shops and tunnel shafts, and killed Palestinian gunmen.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad motion mentioned their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs and pre-planted explosive units.
In Beit Lahiya within the northern Gaza Strip, well being officers at Kamal Adwan Hospital mentioned two infants had died of malnutrition. That took the variety of youngsters who’ve died of malnutrition or dehydration since Oct. 7 to at the very least 31, which well being officers say is probably going an undercount.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Further reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Mahmoud Issa in Gaza; Modifying by Kevin Liffey, Frances Kerry, Diane Craft and Invoice Berkrot)