As the Gaza war enters its 372nd day, the Israeli occupation army focused its ground and air operations on northern Gaza which suffers a stifling siege intending to displace residents southward.
Twenty-two Palestinian citizens were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential area in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip. Three other Palestinians were killed in a raid on the vicinity of the Sanafour area in the Tuffah neighbourhood.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Saturday that the Israeli occupation army committed five massacres in the past 24 hours, leaving 49 dead and 219 injured. She added that the toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 42,175 dead and 98,336 wounded since 7 October 2023.
In a related context, the health ministers of the G7 countries stressed “the need to provide the necessary protection for civilians in the Gaza Strip,” and said: “We are deeply concerned about the situation in Lebanon,” and this came in the final joint document issued by the ministers at the conclusion of the G7 health meeting in the city of Ancona in central Italy.
The document said: “We regret all the loss of civilian lives, and we are deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict on civilians in the Gaza Strip and the entire region,” who “need effective humanitarian interventions,” in addition to “assistance and access to food, basic hygiene supplies, health and the preservation of their dignity as well.”
It added: “We reiterate the absolute need to provide protection for the civilian population in the Strip. It must be ensured that there is full, rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian personnel as a matter of absolute priority, and we are also deeply concerned about the developments in the situation in Lebanon.”
On the ground, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that its members detonated a highly explosive device at an Israeli infantry force of 15 soldiers while they were trying to storm a house near the communications junction west of Jabalia camp north of the Gaza Strip, confirming that members of the force were killed and wounded.
Al-Qassam Brigades also targeted an Israeli personnel carrier with a “Yassin 105” shell northwest of Gaza City. Qassam said that its members targeted an Israeli “Merkava” tank with a “Yassin 105” shell in the “Tawam” area north of Gaza City.
For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced that its members detonated an Israeli military vehicle that had penetrated the Saftawi area north of the Gaza Strip with a highly explosive barrel bomb.
On the Lebanese front, the Hezbollah group said it had bombed an explosives factory south of Haifa with what it described as qualitative missiles, and for the second day attacked the air defence base west of the city with suicide drones.
The group also confirmed that it had targeted Israeli forces in Metula, the settlement of Kfar Yuval, and Tiberias with rocket barrages.
The Israeli army said it had monitored the launch of about 30 missiles towards the Galilee, and that it had intercepted a number of them, confirming that it had launched raids on several towns in southern Lebanon.