Israeli strikes kill 31 Palestinians in Gaza as Israel misses U.S. deadline to ramp up humanitarian aid
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including 11 at a makeshift cafeteria in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said. In Lebanon, warplanes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs and killed five people east of the city on Tuesday.
The new bombardment on both fronts comes on the verge of a deadline set by the United States for Israel to dramatically ramp up humanitarian aid allowed in Gaza or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding. A group of eight international aid agencies said in a report on Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet the U.S. demands.
In Lebanon, large explosions shook Beirut’s southern suburbs — an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence — soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there.
There was no immediate word on casualties. The military said the houses contained Hezbollah installations, but the claim could not be independently confirmed.
Another Israeli strike on an apartment building east of Beirut killed at least five people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Late Monday night, a strike hit the village of Ain Yaacoub in northern Lebanon, killing at least 16 people, the Lebanese civil defence said. Four of the killed were Syrian refugees, and there were another 10 people wounded.
Israel has been carrying out intensified bombardment of Lebanon since late September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and put a stop to more than year of cross-border fire by the Lebanese militant group.
International aid groups say Israel has failed to meet a series of U.S. demands intended to improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by a Tuesday deadline. The U.S. said Israel could face restrictions on military aid if it did not improve the aid situation in Gaza.
At the same time, Israel has continued its campaign in Gaza, now more than 13 months old. An Israeli strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the centre of a “humanitarian zone” that Israel’s military declared earlier in the war.
At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, another 11 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a three-wheeled vehicle with a trailer known as a tuk-tuk, according to the Nasser Hospital. Tuk-tuks are widely used as taxis in Gaza.
Strikes in central Gaza killed another nine people, including a woman and two children, according to Palestinian medical officials.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
Aid to Gaza plummets
Hours earlier, the Israeli military announced a small expansion of the humanitarian zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely desolate area of dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast.
Israeli forces have also been besieging the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October, battling Hamas fighters it says regrouped there.
With virtually no food or aid allowed in for more than a month, the siege has raised fears of famine among the tens of thousands of Palestinians believed to still be sheltering there.
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An Oct. 13 letter signed by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin gave Israeli 30 days to, among other things, allow a minimum of 350 truckloads of goods to enter Gaza each day.
So far, Israel has fallen short. In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The United Nations puts the number lower, at 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October.
Israel has announced a flurry of measures in recent days to increase aid, including opening a new crossing into central Gaza. But so far the impact is unclear.
The military said Tuesday it had allowed hundreds of packages of food and water into Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun, two areas under siege in the far north of Gaza. The Palestinian civil defence agency said three trucks carrying flour, canned food and water reached Beit Hanoun.
It was only the second delivery allowed into the area since the beginning of October; a smaller cargo was let in last week, though not all of it reached shelters in the north, according to the UN.
More forced evacuations in isolated northern Gaza
The military announced Tuesday that four soldiers were killed in Jabalia, bringing to 24 the number of soldiers killed in the assault there since it began.
Palestinian health officials say hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, though the true numbers are unknown as rescue workers are unable to reach buildings destroyed in strikes. Israel has ordered residents in the area to evacuate. But the UN has estimated some 70,000 people remain.
Many Palestinians there fear Israel aims to permanently depopulate the area to more easily keep control of it. On Tuesday, witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli troops had encircled at least three schools in Beit Hanoun, forcing hundreds of displaced people sheltering inside to leave.
A dual Canada-U.S. citizen delivering aid for the group World Central Kitchen was among seven workers killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. In response, world leaders have called for an investigation and aid groups have stopped delivering aid to people close to famine.
Drones blared announcements demanding people move south to Gaza City, said Mahmoud al-Kafarnah, speaking from one of the schools as sounds of gunfire could be heard. “The tanks are outside,” he said. “We don’t know where to go.”
Hashim Afanah, sheltering with at least 20 other people in his family home, said the forces were evicting people from houses and shelters.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s brutal military campaign has levelled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The conflict has also ignited hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, with Israel going on the offensive in September and pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes it says are aimed at the militant group Hezbollah. In the past year, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon and displaced a million, while Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 people in northern Israel.
