September 17, 2024
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike in Gaza killed at least 19 people and wounded 60 early on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted senior Hamas militants with precise munitions.
The overnight strike occurred in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants in a command-and-control center embedded in the area. It identified three of the militants, saying they were senior operatives who were directly involved in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack — which triggered the war — and other recent attacks.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, disputed the initial casualty reports in a post on the social media platform X, saying they “do not line up with the information available to the (Israeli army), the precise weapons used and the accuracy of the strike.”
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.
International law allows for strikes on military targets in areas where civilians are present, provided the force used is proportionate to the military objective.
The United States and mediators Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, but the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, speaking at a news conference in London with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said the continued violence underscored how important it is to forge a cease-fire.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters on Monday that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in the fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages still held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting — a central Hamas demand.
Aid groups have struggled to operate because of ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order.
The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians said Israeli troops stopped a convoy of staff taking part in a polio vaccination campaign for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the military.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on the social media platform X that the convoy was stopped at gunpoint and that “heavy damage was caused by bulldozers" to the U.N. armored vehicles. The staff were later released and the vaccination campaign continued as planned.
The Israeli military said it held up the convoy based on intelligence indicating the presence of suspected militants. Israel has long accused UNRWA of having ties to militant groups.
