Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 42 people on Wednesday as the military intensified a siege on northern parts of the Palestinian territory, forcing the World Health Organization to pause the latest phase of its polio vaccination campaign, medics and officials said.
Israeli forces began the operation in the north about three weeks ago with the declared aim of preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping. The operation has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar a week ago, despite hopes from the US that his death could provide a fresh impetus for peace.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 650 people had been killed since the new offensive began and of at least 42 people reported killed by Israeli military strikes across the territory on Wednesday, 37 of the deaths were in northern Gaza.
The WHO said that due to the “escalating violence and intense bombardments” in northern Gaza, the third phase of a vital polio vaccination campaign has been postponed. The vaccination campaign was launched last month after a baby was paralysed by the disease in Gaza for the first time in 25 years.
According to the agency, 119,279 children across northern Gaza were due to be vaccinated, but current conditions were “making it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination, and health workers to operate.”
Israel’s military humanitarian unit, Cogat, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, said the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza will begin in the coming days, “after a joint assessment and at the request” of the WHO and Unicef.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said three of its rescuers were wounded in northern Gaza in what it said was a “targeted strike”, that aimed to force them out of Jabalia, hours after the Israeli army ordered some of their staff to leave the camp.
Later it said, all its operations in northern Gaza were suspended after Israeli forces detained five staff members and bombed the only fire truck.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency said on Wednesday one of its staff members was killed when an Unrwa vehicle was hit in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Medics said the man’s brother was also killed.
The US has called on Israel to allow more humanitarian supplies into northern Gaza. Israel says aid has been delivered in scores of trucks as well as airdrops, but Gaza medics say the aid has not reached them.
In a phone call on Wednesday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant that Washington welcomed the movement of humanitarian assistance through the Erez crossing into northern Gaza, but urged Israel take steps to address the dire situation there, a Pentagon summary of the call said.
In the same call, Austin also told his Israeli counterpart that Washington had concerns about strikes against the Lebanese armed forces while urging Israel to take steps to ensure the safety of the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Pentagon said.
Three Lebanese soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on an army vehicle in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese military said on Sunday. Israel, which says it is targeting Lebanese Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, apologised and said its military was not operating against the Lebanese army.
Israeli strikes continued to pound Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, shortly after an Israeli military spokesperson issued evacuation warnings for the neighbourhood. Six buildings were levelled in at least 17 Israeli raids, according to the country’s National News Agency.
One strike hit the office of pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, the station said. It said the office had been empty since the conflict began. Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded.
Lebanon’s government said on Wednesday at least 28 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the previous 24 hours, raising the total toll since October 2023 to 2,574.
Hezbollah said in a statement late on Wednesday that it had escalated its attacks on Israel, using “precision missiles” for the first time and launched new types of drones on Israeli targets, without offering further details.
It later said it had targeted an Israeli military factory on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. There was no immediate indication of any defence facility having been hit around Tel Aviv.
The intensifying exchanges of fire come as Washington makes a final major push for peace between Israel and Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas before the 5 November US presidential election.
Despite the presence of US secretary of state Antony Blinken in the region, the conflict appeared to be spreading, with new strikes around midday on Wednesday on Tyre, a Unesco-listed port city in south Lebanon, which also came after Israeli evacuation orders.
With Reuters
