GAZA: Israel carried out heavy air strikes in Gaza on Saturday and engaged in combat with Palestinians, while to the north it exchanged fire with Lebanese Hezbollah across the border.
The war continued unabated on Saturday, with Israel's military saying it had conducted operations across much of the Gaza Strip, including Shujaiya in the north, Deir Al Balah in central Gaza and Rafah in the south. Shujaiya is among the areas the military had previously declared to be cleared of Hamas, but where fighting is again taking place.
The health ministry in the Palestinian territory said at least 87 people had been killed in the past 48 hours, and paramedics on Saturday reported 10 deaths in an air strike on a house in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The Hamas press office and paramedics said four journalists working for local media outlets were killed in strikes overnight, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said two of its employees had been killed. According to UNRWA, which coordinated much of the aid delivered to Gaza, 194 of its employees have been killed in the war.
The war began with unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, based on Israeli figures. The Palestinians also seized captives, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.
In response, Israel has carried out a military offensive that has killed at least 38,098 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the territory.
The war has uprooted 90 per cent of Gaza's population, destroyed much of its housing and other infrastructure, and left almost 500,000 people enduring "catastrophic" hunger, UN agencies say.
Cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has occurred almost daily since the Gaza war began, but has escalated notably over the past month.
That has raised fears of a major conflagration between the staunch enemies which could draw in Iran and other powers.
On Saturday morning, sirens blared over northern Israel and the military said it had downed a "suspicious aerial target" and two "hostile aircraft" launched from Lebanon fell in open ground.
The military said earlier it had attacked "a number of Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon" overnight, all near the border.
US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have voiced hope that a ceasefire in Gaza could also lead to an easing of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border. — AFP
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