Israeli strikes kill 10, UN site hit as Gaza conflict resumes
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Palestinians inspecting the site of an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 19.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO – Israeli strikes killed at least 10 Palestinians in Gaza on March 19, local health workers said, as the Israeli army resumed its bombardments and issued new orders for residents to evacuate combat zones.
A foreign national was killed and four others were wounded in an air strike on the site of a UN headquarters in central Gaza City, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military denied in a statement that it struck the UN compound in Deir al-Balah. It said it targeted a Hamas site in northern Gaza where it detected preparations for firing into Israeli territory.
On March 18, Israeli air strikes killed more than 400 people
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching the truce, which had offered a respite for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced the majority of its population to displace multiple times.
On March 19, the Israeli army dropped leaflets in areas in Beit Hanoun and Khan Younis in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, ordering residents to evacuate their homes, warning them they were in “dangerous combat zones”.
A leaflet dropped in Beit Hanoun read: “Staying in the shelters or the current tent put your lives and that of your family members in danger, evacuate immediately.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure an extension of the ceasefire until April.
Hamas – which still holds 59 of about 250 hostages Israel says the group seized in its Oct 7, 2023, cross-border attack – accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel that day,
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on March 19 that she told Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar that the situation in Gaza is “unacceptable”.
She told reporters in Brussels: “Yesterday I also talked to Foreign Minister Saar... what is happening, why are you doing this? And I mean, also conveying the message that this is unacceptable.”
Arab plan in jeopardy
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on March 19 called for restraint from all sides ahead of her trip to Lebanon to discuss the conflict.
“The resumption of fighting... jeopardises the positive efforts of the Arab states, which together want to pursue a peaceful path for Gaza, free from Hamas,” Ms Baerbock said in a statement.
Israel and Western powers do not want Hamas to play any role in the enclave when the war is over. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group remains the dominant force in Gaza.
Arab nations drew up a plan for peace and reconstruction in Gaza after a proposal from US President Donald Trump to resettle Palestinians and turn it into the “Riviera” of the Middle East triggered outrage
In the March 19 violence, three people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Sabra suburb in Gaza City, while another air strike left two men dead and wounded six others in Beit Hanoun town in the north, Gaza health officials said.
Palestinian medics said Israeli tank shelling on the Salahdeen Road killed one Palestinian and wounded others, raising the death toll to 416 since the new Israeli campaign began, according to health authorities.
Israeli naval vessels also attacked several boats it said were intended to carry out “terrorist” acts by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups.
Palestinians said an Israeli drone fired at several fishing boats onshore of Gaza City, setting several of them ablaze.
Hamas officials said they remained keen on concluding the three-phase ceasefire deal as signed.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 49,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say. REUTERS
