GAZA: Israel pressed ahead on Saturday with its campaign in Gaza's Khan Younis, as bad weather hit displaced Palestinians seeking refuge further north in the battered enclave.
Residents reported heavy aerial and tank fire across Khan Younis, an area of southern Gaza that has become the focus of Israel's ground offensive, and around two main hospitals there.
Palestinian movement Hamas said its fighters fired an anti-tank missile against an Israeli tank in southwest Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said it killed at least 11 gunmen who were trying to plant explosives near troops and others firing rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers in Khan Younis.
The Palestinian groups said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces in the area and had fired rockets into Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli strikes hit in the vicinities of Al-Amal Hospital and the largest functioning medical facility in the south, Nasser Hospital.
The Israeli bombardment was compromising healthcare and endangering the lives of doctors, patients and displaced people, said ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra.
The Israeli military says it is in contact with hospital directors and medical staff by phone and on the ground to make sure that they are running and accessible. Israel says Palestinian groups operate in and around medical facilities, an allegation the groups deny.
In the southern city of Rafah, Zainab Khalil, 57, displaced with her family several times until reaching shelter not far from the border with Egypt, said the International Court of Justice's ruling was important but not enough. "We want a ceasefire now," she said.
Israel launched its air, sea and land offensive after Palestinians stormed into Israel on Oct. 7 abducting 253.
More than 26,257 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 65,000 wounded so far, including 174 killed in the last 24 hours, Gaza health authorities said on Saturday. The majority of the enclave's 2.3 million population has been displaced.
Israel says 220 soldiers have died since it launched its ground offensive. It says it has killed at least 9,000 Gaza fighters so far, a figure that Palestinian groups have dismissed.
Residents reported fighting on Saturday in the central and northern parts of the enclave, where heavy rain flooded tents of those displaced, forcing some to seek alternative shelter in the middle of the night.
In Rafah, where over half of Gaza's people are now taking cover in shelters and tents, the Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli air strike killed three people in a house there. — Reuters
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