More than 50 dead in Israeli air and ground operation in southern Gaza
2 October 2024, 10:44
The health ministry said the dead included several women and children, and that dozens of other people were wounded.
At least 51 people have been killed and another 82 were injured in a large Israeli air and ground operation in the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s heath ministry has said.
Israel’s military has yet to comment on the operation, which began early on Wednesday.
Palestinian residents said Israeli ground forces have pushed into three neighbourhoods.
Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas’s October 7 attack ignited the war, even as attention shifted to Lebanon, where it is battling Hezbollah, and to Iran, which launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel late on Tuesday.
The European Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies after heavy Israeli air strikes and ground operations in the city.
It said the dead include several women and children, and that dozens of people were wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Dr Saleh al-Hams, head of the nursing department at the hospital, said dozens of dead and wounded people were brought to his facility and the Nasser Hospital from about 3am.
Some of the wounded were in critical condition, meaning the death toll could rise, he added.
He said Israel had carried out heavy airstrikes as its ground forces staged an incursion into three neighbourhoods in Khan Younis.
Israel carried out a massive offensive earlier this year that left large parts of the city in ruins.
Over the course of the war, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to areas of Gaza where they have previously fought Hamas and other armed groups as the militants have regrouped.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people on October 7 and took around 250 hostage.
Around 100 are still in captivity in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, flattened wide areas across Gaza and displaced the vast majority of its 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
