Israeli attacks throughout the besieged Gaza Strip have killed dozens of people, according to medical sources, as Israel’s defence minister said there was “currently a chance” for a new deal to release captives held in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli army in the early hours of Wednesday bombed a residential building in Beit Lahiya, near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which has been under an even tighter siege for more than two months.
The attack killed at least 20 people, including women and children, but there were fears the death toll could rise. Local media reports said at least 30 displaced people were living in the multistorey home of the Abu Tarabish family before it was struck.
Footage seen by Al Jazeera showed people using their bare hands trying to remove large pieces of concrete from the ruins of the bombed structure. One child’s body was removed from the rubble.
“This residential building has been turned into ruin. The smoke is still rising,” said journalist Moath Kahlout, reporting from the site. “Due to a shortage of rescue teams, the neighbours are trying to pull the dead bodies from under the rubble.”
Later, an attack on a residential home in the densely populated Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least seven people, all members of the same family.
In Gaza City, journalist Iman al-Shanti and her husband and three children were killed when Israeli forces bombed a residential building in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, news sources reported.
One Palestinian citizen was also killed in Israel’s bombing of the Maghazi camp; another citizen was killed in the bombing of a phone charging point east of Deir el-Balah city, in the central Gaza Strip; and two citizens were killed in the Israeli army’s bombing of the Al-Mawasi area west of Rafah city, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
According to Wafa’s correspondent, Israeli fighter jets also bombed a house in the Nuseirat camp, killing four people and injuring at least 16 others, the agency said.
Israeli drone strikes targeted a group of civilians near Deir el-Balah Preparatory School, where displaced people are seeking refuge, which resulted in the killing of one civilian and the injury of several others, Wafa said.
A child was also killed in Israeli shelling that targeted a home in the al-Zawayda town in central Gaza, the agency reported.
‘No let-up’ in Israeli attacks amid truce efforts
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the latest deadly attacks come amid “a deepening humanitarian crisis”.
“There are no basic supplies available, markets are depleted and the crisis keeps continuing to evolve in a devastating way,” he added, saying that all the while, there is “no let-up” in the Israeli bombardment.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, whose attacks on Gaza over the past 14 months have killed at least 44,805 people and wounded 106,257.
Israel launched its ferocious military campaign after an estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during attacks led by the Palestinian armed group Hamas on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
The renewed attacks are taking place as efforts to reach a ceasefire are under way in Egypt.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told his United States counterpart Lloyd Austin on Wednesday that there was “currently a chance” for a deal to release the remaining captives held in Gaza.
“There is currently a chance for a new deal,” Katz told Austin in a phone call, according to a readout from his office, the AFP news agency reported.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, meanwhile, is heading to Israel this week for talks on a truce deal in Gaza.
Sullivan will meet Israeli officials to discuss “efforts to reach a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza, the latest developments in Syria, and for discussions about Lebanon and Iran,” US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said.
