Israeli offensive in Gaza kills & wounds dozens

Associated Press Deir al-Balah: A large-scale Israeli operation in northern Gaza has killed and wounded dozens of people and threatens to shut down three hospitals over a year into the war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and residents said Wednesday. Heavy fighting is underway in Jabaliya, where Israeli forces carried out several major operations throughout the war and then returned as militants regroup.

The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year. The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, offers a cautionary tale as Israel expands a week-old ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a major retaliatory strike on Iran. Residents of Jabaliya, a refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, say heavy airstrikes and evacuation warnings have driven hundreds of people from their homes. An airstrike early Wednesday killed at least nine people, including two women and two children, according to the Al-Ahly Hospital, which received the bodies.

Strikes in central Gaza killed another nine people, including three children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al- Balah. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies. The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that the overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza since the start of the war has surpassed 42,000, with more than 97,000 others wounded.

Hospitals are under threat: Fadel Naeem, director of the Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said it has received dozens of dead and wounded people from across the northern half of the Palestinian enclave since Israel launched its air and ground operation there earlier this month. Israel's offensive has gutted Gaza's health sector, forcing most of its hospitals to shut down and leaving the rest only partially functioning.

The situation is tense, Naeem told The Associated Press in a text message. We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable to receive the growing numbers of wounded arriving from the north.

Israel warns Lebanon that it could end up like Gaza: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until total victory over Hamas and the return of all the captives. On Tuesday, he warned that Lebanon would meet a similar fate if its people did not rise up against Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into Israel after the initial Hamas attack.