Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, including a senior Hamas political leader as well as several women and children.
This, as the Israeli military instructed people to evacuate from part of the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
The military said it would soon operate in the Tel Sultan area of Rafah. Israel launched a major offensive on the city in May.
People were ordered to evacuate on foot along a single route to the Mawasi area. It was not immediately known if the evacuation order meant Israeli forces would renew ground operations.
ISRAEL ORDERS IDF TO SEIZE MORE GAZA TERRITORY IF HAMAS DOESN’T RELEASE HOSTAGES
“Remaining in camps, tents, or houses in Tel al-Sultan or walking on any other route endangers your lives and the lives of your family members,” military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a statement.
Hamas said that Salah Bardawil, a member of its political bureau, was killed in a strike in Mawasi along with his wife. Bardawil, who was also a member of the Palestinian parliament, was a well-known member of the Hamas’ political wing who spoke to the media over the years.
Two hospitals in southern Gaza said they received the bodies of 17 people killed in the strikes, including several women and children. Bardawil and his wife were not included in this number.
The European Hospital said five children and their parents killed in a strike in Khan Younis were among the deceased. Another family of two girls and their parents were killed in a separate strike. The Kuwaiti Hospital said it had received the bodies of a woman and child killed in another strike.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said Israeli forces were blocking its ambulances from responding to strikes in Rafah and that several of its medics had been wounded.
Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas ended last week when the Jewish State launched a series of airstrikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
The ceasefire started in January, pausing a 15-month war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Twenty-five Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others were released during the ceasefire in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Negotiations were supposed to begin in early February on the next phase of the truce, in which Hamas was called to free the remaining 59 hostages — including 35 who are believed to be dead — in exchange for additional Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
CEASEFIRE OVER AS ISRAEL STRIKES GAZA AFTER HAMAS REFUSED TO RELEASE HOSTAGES, OFFICIALS SAY
However, those negotiations never began, and Israel backed out of the ceasefire deal after Hamas refused Israeli and U.S.-backed proposals to free more hostages ahead of any talks on a lasting truce.
Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. Most of the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals, but Israeli forces rescued eight alive and recovered dozens of bodies.
Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 50,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run government’s Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between terrorists and civilians.
Meanwhile, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are allies of Hamas, launched another missile at Israel, but the Israeli military said the projectile was intercepted. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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