At least 17 Palestinians have been killed in new Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the territory’s Hamas-controlled civil defence force reported on Wednesday.
Ten people were killed when a school building in the city of Gaza was bombarded, a civil defence spokesman said. Seven others were killed in an attack on a residential building in the al-Zaytun district in the north of the coastal strip.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that a senior Hamas member had been killed in the strike, adding that the man had led and participated in attacks on IDF troops in the Gaza Strip.
A large quantity of weapons had been stored in the room that he used, the IDF said.
The health authority controlled by Hamas announced that more than 44,200 people had been killed and more than 104,700 injured in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war almost 14 months ago.
The figures, which cannot be independently verified, do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Speaking to dpa on Wednesday, a Hamas representative said that the militant organization was insisting on its previous conditions for a ceasefire.
He said that although Hamas respects the decision by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah to pause hostilities, the Palestinian people were not willing to give up their resistance against Israel, despite the suffering in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’ conditions have remained unchanged since the beginning of the Gaza war. Among other things, it says the release of around 100 hostages as demanded by Israel is dependent on the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners and a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.
Israel wants to leave its troops in strategic positions in the sealed-off territory.
In the massacre carried out by Hamas and other terrorist groups in Israel on October 7, 2023, around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage to Gaza. According to estimates, about half of the approximately 100 remaining hostages are believed to be alive.
Palestinians inspect the al-Qassam Mosque and surrounding buildings where Israeli army attacked and caused a big destruction in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in central Gaza. Omar Ashtawy Apaimages/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
