Deadly Israeli strikes hit central Gaza

 

Palestinians check the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Dec. 4, 2024.

Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes killed at least five people Wednesday in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military also said Wednesday it made a number of arrests after Israeli settlers attacked several towns in the occupied West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces said the violence included settler attacks on the village of Beit Furik where settlers hurled stones and wounded two border police.

Settler violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas launched its October 2023 attack on Israel, and Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids on West Bank villages as part of a campaign the military says is aimed at disrupting militant activities.

Israel forces carried out fresh airstrikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon, a week after Israel and the militant group Hezbollah began a ceasefire.

The halt in fighting after a year of cross-border clashes and months of intensified fighting that included Israeli troops going into southern Lebanon has been threatened by continued Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket fire.

The two sides are supposed to pull back from the border area under the ceasefire agreement, with Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers maintaining a buffer zone.

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said Wednesday that the Israel-Hezbollah war has killed at least 4,047 and wounded more than 16,600 others.

Abiad said most of the casualties took place since September 15, and that the actual number of dead is believed to be higher.

Buildings lie in ruin in Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah, as seen from northern Israel, Dec. 4, 2024.

U.S. and other officials expressed hope in recent days that the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah could help to push along efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

Months of talks brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza have yet to yield an agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage in its 2023 attack. There are still about 100 hostages held in Gaza, with about one-third believed to be dead.

In its counteroffensive in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terror groups by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Western countries.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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