Israeli strikes kill over 700 as medical infra crumbles

Survivors say they couldn’t identify the dead as bodies were blown to bits

Rapidly expanding Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people in the past day as medical facilities across the territory were forced to close because of bombing damage and a lack of power, health officials said Tuesday.

Israel said it had launched 400 airstrikes over the past day, killing Hamas commanders, hitting militants as they were preparing to launch rockets into Israel and striking command centers and a Hamas tunnel shaft. The previous day, Israel reported 320 strikes. Witnesses and health officials said many of the airstrikes hit residential buildings, some of them in southern Gaza where Israel had told civilians to take shelter.

An overnight strike hit a four-story residential building in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 32 people and wounding scores of others, according to survivors. The fatalities included 13 from the Saqallah family, said Ammar al-Butta, a relative who survived the airstrike. Another relative said they couldn’t recognise the dead. “We recognised them through the clothes they wore, who wore these trousers, or that T-shirt,” he said.

Israeli birthday boy in Hamas captivity

Ohad Munder-Zichri’s 9th birthday was on Monday. But instead of celebrating at home with his family and friends, he is believed to be somewhere in Gaza, one of more than 220 hostages held by Hamas since the militants’ devastating October 7 incursion.

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‘Lebanon won’t initiate a war’

A prominent Lebanese Christian politician allied with Hezbollah said Tuesday that Lebanon would not initiate a war with Israel but would defend itself if attacked. The comments by Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement of former President Michel Aoun, came as sporadic clashes continue on the Lebanese border with Israel between Hezbollah and armed Palestinian groups in Lebanon.

Hamas frees two elderly hostages

Hamas on Monday released two elderly Israeli women held hostage in Gaza as the United States expressed increasing concern that the escalating Israel-Hamas war will spark a wider conflict in the region, including attacks on American troops. Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old woman released by Hamas, told reporters Tuesday that the militants beat her with sticks, bruising her ribs and making it hard to breathe, as they kidnapped her during their attack.

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Members of a single family among the dead

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