Israel kills 17 across Gaza, forcibly removes 130 Palestinian families

Israeli attacks killed at least 17 in strikes across Gaza various reports said on Tuesday, with around 11 of them killed in Al-Mawasi where forcibly displaced people were sheltering in tents.

Rescue teams struggled to retrieve bodies from under the rubble in Gaza City after Israeli strikes targeted a home belonging to the Al-Amsi family located on the Al-Jalaa street.

Eyewitnesses told the Wafa news agency that large explosions could be heard from the building demolitions, as well as explosions in north Gaza.

The Israeli army also issued a forced evacuation order to 130 families in Beit Hanoun, with local sources stating that the army rounded people up under gunfire.

Eyewitnesses told Wafa that displaced people left their shelters and homes under shelling and gunfire and were forced to head towards Salah al-Din Street, a major road connecting north and south Gaza.

The director of the north Gaza Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, highlighted that the medical facility was the only remaining one in the area on Monday.

He added that the hospital’s emergency entrance had been bombed with three staff members wounded, one of them critically. Abu Safiya also said they had very little specialist equipment left but were having to carry out complex surgery on victims of Israeli bombing.

The Israeli army announced that four of their soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Monday, which comes at the same time when the Qassam Brigades were publishing regular statements detailing operations and ambushes they had carried out against Israeli soldiers and tanks.

West Bank raids

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued raids on the occupied West Bank, closing off several areas and entrances to Bethlehem.

According to Wafa, Israeli forces are hunting for a suspect involved in a car ramming which injured two Israelis.

Israeli forces also carried out arrests in Hebron, raiding homes near the town of Sa’ir. Of those arrested, one was a former prisoner.

Northwest of the city of Nablus, Israeli forces carried out a raid on an archaeological site in the village of Sebastia in Nablus.

The town’s mayor, Mohammed Azem, confirmed to Wafa the raid occurred and said there were confrontations in the area's vicinity.

He added that Israeli forces had been raiding the site for four days, adding: "It seems that this is in preparation for the implementation of the military barracks project inside the site."

Azem said staff working at the site have been regularly harassed by soldiers, forcing them to leave.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others since 7 October 2023. The war has devastated entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.

It also prompted attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as well as increased raids by Israeli forces and the detention of dozens of Palestinians.