Israel Strikes At Midnight Killing Not Less Than 104 People, Including 20 Women And 46 Children – SIXT-MEDIA LANE
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military said Wednesday that the ceasefire was back on in Gaza after it carried out heavy airstrikes overnight across the Palestinian territory that killed 104 people, including 66 women and children, according to local health officials.
The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.
The bombardment pointed to Israel’s readiness to strike hard at what it says are Hamas violations of the ceasefire deal. Meanwhile the militant group denies it is responsible and blames Israel for violations.
Israel said its overnight strikes were in retaliation for the shooting and killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Hamas violated provisions in the deal concerning the handover of remains of hostages.
Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and, in turn, accused Israel of “a blatant violation of the ceasefire deal.” It also said it would delay handing over the body of another hostage to Israel because of the strikes.
The strikes across Gaza in the early hours Wednesday pounded buildings and tent camps housing displaced families.
Ambulances and small trucks carrying bodies crowded hospital entrances. In Deir al-Balah, bodies were wheeled in on stretchers or carried on mattresses. One man walked into a hospital carrying the body of a young child.
“They burned children while they were asleep,” Haneen Mteir, whose sister and nephews were killed in a strike, shouted at the morgue in at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 104 people, including 20 women and 46 children, were killed in the overnight strikes and 253 people were wounded, most of them women and children.
Israel’s military says ceasefire is back on as death toll from Gaza strikes reaches 104
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