Israel intensifies attacks across Gaza

2024-04-24 07:28:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israeli attacks intensified across Gaza on Tuesday in some of the heaviest strikes in weeks, according to residents. Meanwhile, the army ordered new evacuations in the north of the enclave, warning civilians that they were in a "dangerous combat zone".

Air and ground attacks with tanks were also reported in the central and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. Residents said the shelling continued for almost 24 hours without interruption.

In a post on social media platform X, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee asked residents of four areas in Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of Gaza to relocate to two designated areas.

He said the army "will act with extreme force against terrorist infrastructure and dangerous elements" in the region. In a statement released later on Tuesday, the military said it "follows international law and takes precautions to mitigate harm to civilians."

The new bombings in northern Gaza come almost four months after the Israeli army announced it was withdrawing troops from there, saying Hamas no longer controlled those areas.

This month, Israel also withdrew most of its forces from southern Gaza. But efforts to reach a ceasefire have failed, and Israeli bombing and attacks on territory where its troops have withdrawn are making it difficult for displaced Gazans to return to their abandoned homes.

Tuesday's shelling came after rocket warning sirens sounded in two southern Israeli border towns, although there were no reports of casualties. The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a group allied to Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attacks in Sderot and Nir Am. The strikes proved the militants are still able to fire rockets almost 200 days after the war began, which has leveled large parts of the enclave and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million residents.

Hamas said Israel had only achieved "humiliation and defeat" with its offensive. Speaking in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television, Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, called for an escalation of the conflict on all fronts and singled out Iran for attacking Israel earlier this month.

He also said Hamas stood by its demands in the ceasefire talks that Israel end its war altogether, withdraw all its troops from Gaza and allow displaced people to return to the north. Israel has resisted a permanent ceasefire, saying it would only allow Hamas to regroup./ Voa