Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Smoke billowed over Wadi Gaza on Wednesday as strikes killed at least 16 Palestinians, according to officials in the besieged territory.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Israel&rsquo;s military campaign has now killed more than 61,100 people since October 2023.&nbsp;The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the death toll averages 100 Palestinians per day, underscoring the relentless pace of the war. Recent victims included civilians seeking refuge in a Gaza City school converted into a shelter for displaced families.&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s Defence Minister Israel Katz warned civilians to evacuate Gaza City, declaring it the &ldquo;last opportunity&rdquo; to move south and leave Hamas fighters isolated. &ldquo;Those who remain will be considered terrorists and terrorist supporters,&rdquo; Katz posted on X.&nbsp;Israeli forces said they had seized the Netzarim corridor, severing northern Gaza from the south, while closing the last remaining passage into the north. Residents fleeing south must now cross Israeli checkpoints. Yet many civilians say there is no safe place left.&nbsp;&ldquo;I will not leave because the situation in Gaza City is no different from the south,&rdquo; said 60-year-old Rabah al-Halabi, sheltering at Al-Shifa Hospital. &ldquo;All areas are dangerous. The bombing is everywhere. Displacement is terrifying and humiliating.&rdquo;&nbsp;The heavy bombardment comes as Hamas weighs a peace proposal advanced by US President Donald Trump. The plan, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for an immediate ceasefire, release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas&rsquo;s disarmament, and a phased Israeli withdrawal. It also envisions a transitional authority for Gaza led by Trump himself.&nbsp;While Arab and Muslim nations cautiously welcomed the proposal, Hamas leaders remain divided. A source close to the group told AFP that some members support unconditional acceptance to halt the bloodshed, while others reject clauses on disarmament and the exclusion of Hamas from Gaza&rsquo;s future.&nbsp;&ldquo;Hamas and the factions want an immediate ceasefire,&rdquo; the source said, &ldquo;but not at the cost of compromising core national principles.&rdquo;&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s offensive, launched after Hamas&rsquo;s October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,219 people in Israel, has reduced much of Gaza to rubble. According to health ministry figures, now cited by the UN as credible, at least 66,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed.

Middle East

The UN reports Gaza’s death toll surpassing 61,000, with 100 Palestinians killed daily. Israel tightens its siege on Gaza City, as Hamas weighs a US-brokered ceasefire plan calling for disarmament and phased Israeli withdrawal.

UN reports 100 Palestinians killed daily, Gaza death toll surpasses 61,000

GAZA:&nbsp;Noor Abu Hassira and her three daughters are sheltering in a dark basement in Gaza City, where explosions shake the surrounding walls. Although they can barely see through a small, elevated window, the noise of buzzing drones and loud airstrikes indicates that Israeli forces are approaching. Despite Israeli warnings to evacuate, Abu Hassira remains because she suffers from severe leg injuries caused by an airstrike that destroyed her home at the beginning of the war. Like many others in the war-torn area, she cannot afford the $2,000 she says is needed to relocate to southern Gaza and set up a tent in a displacement camp. While most Palestinians in Gaza City have fled south at some point in the 23-month long war, Abu Hassira has been largely bedridden &mdash; except for the 11 times she&#39;s had to relocate within her city to keep safe from Israeli assaults. Her husband is in an Israeli prison, and she and her young girls &mdash; Jouri, Maria and Maha &mdash; are among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still in Gaza City, which before the war had a million residents.&nbsp;&ldquo;It feels like we&rsquo;re just waiting to die, I don&rsquo;t really care that much anymore,&rdquo; Abu Hassira wrote over text. Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages taken during the attack that started the war. It says it is taking steps to mitigate harm to civilians. If the Abu Hassira family could somehow make it to the south, their troubles would not be over.&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m afraid to live in a tent with my daughters. I&rsquo;m afraid we will drown in the winter. I&rsquo;m afraid of insects. How will we get water?&rdquo; she said. An airstrike destroyed their home Eight months before the war, Abu Hassira and her family moved into an apartment in Gaza City. She worked as a medical lab technician. Her husband, Raed, was a journalist for a media outlet suspected of links to Hamas. Abu Hassira said her husband was not a member of the group. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/1f9e25ad-fe48-4609-adc9-17871d4f01e7-An injured mother stranded in Gaza City as Israeli troops approach, show the destruction outside her parent's home, where she is sheltering with her three daughters in the Gaza Strip. (AP) (2).jpg" alt="An injured mother stranded in Gaza City as Israeli troops approach, show the destruction outside her parent's home, where she is sheltering with her three daughters in the Gaza Strip. (AP) " style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">Noor Abu Hassira&#39;s husband, Raed, smiles as he holds his three daughters, Jouri, Maria and Maha, before the Israel-Hamas war began and he was arrested by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, Jan. 2023. (Noor Abu Hassira via (AP))</figcaption></figure> Jouri, their oldest, was in elementary school. Maria was about to start kindergarten. Maha was just a baby. &ldquo;We worked and saved for 10 years to have a comfortable, nice home &mdash; our dream house. Now it&rsquo;s gone,&rdquo; she said. Israel laid siege on Gaza in October 2023 with heavy airstrikes across the enclave&nbsp;and a ground invasion. That December, the Abu Hassiras&#39; apartment building was struck. The blast collapsed a concrete pillar that pinned Abu Hassira under the rubble, shattering her shoulders, back and legs and knocking her into a coma. Her daughters were also buried in the rubble, though all survived. Israeli troops raided the hospital Abu Hassira awoke at Shifa Hospital. Her daughter, Maria, lay beside her with a fractured skull.&nbsp;Israeli forces had raided the hospital weeks earlier, accusing Hamas of sheltering there. Supplies were running low. It was packed with displaced families and doctors were preoccupied with a steady flow of casualties coming through the gates. Her husband sent the other two girls to stay with an uncle so he could care for the mother and daughter at the hospital.&nbsp;&ldquo;He would change my diapers, my clothes,&rdquo; Abu Hassira said. &ldquo;I lay on my back for three months, and he took care of me, combed my hair, and bathed me.&rdquo; In March 2024, Israeli troops raided the hospital again, arresting scores of men, including Abu Hassira&#39;s husband. He is now one of hundreds of Palestinian men Israel has rounded up during the war whose whereabouts and legal status remain unknown. She hasn&rsquo;t heard from him, but Addameer, a Palestinian legal aid group, said an attorney visited him in an Israeli prison last November. Israel&rsquo;s prison service, Shin Bet intelligence agency and military declined to say why he was arrested or where he was being held.&nbsp;&ldquo;Maha was just over a year old when they took her father away,&rdquo; Abu Hassira said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s never once said the word &lsquo;daddy.&rsquo;&rdquo; She feared her daughters would die Israel&#39;s military said it killed some 200 militants over two weeks of fighting inside the sprawling Shifa hospital. The World Health Organization said 21 patients died during the siege. Israel denied harming civilians. Abu Hassira, who said soldiers told her to leave, fled the incursion with a single bag, leaving her wheelchair and most of her clothes and food behind. The family spent the rest of the year moving from one place to another as Israel carried out raids in and around Gaza City.&nbsp;&ldquo;The hardest part is living at other people&rsquo;s homes ... especially with small children, and everything is expensive. I had no clothes or belongings, so I had to use theirs,&rdquo; she said. In the fall of 2024, Israel largely sealed off northern Gaza, including Gaza City, launching major ground operations and heavily restricting humanitarian aid. Clean water was hard to find. They ate little more than bread. Jouri, her oldest, grew malnourished and sick.&nbsp;&ldquo;I felt weak, lonely, helpless,&rdquo; Abu Hassira said. &ldquo;I was terrified my daughters would die and I couldn&rsquo;t do anything for them.&rdquo; A neighbor volunteered to take Jouri to a malnutrition program where the girl began to recover. In January, a long-awaited ceasefire took hold, raising hopes that the war would wind down. Hundreds of thousands of people returned to Gaza City, Abu Hassira&#39;s extended family was reunited, and Israel allowed humanitarian aid to flow in. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/0e30311b-7e4a-4e0d-9bfe-a2986fdf6c0b-An injured mother stranded in Gaza City as Israeli troops approach, show the destruction outside her parent's home, where she is sheltering with her three daughters in the Gaza Strip. (AP).jpg" alt="An injured mother stranded in Gaza City as Israeli troops approach, show the destruction outside her parent's home, where she is sheltering with her three daughters in the Gaza Strip. (AP) " style="max-width: 100%;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">In this undated photo taken during the Israel-Hamas war, Noor Abu Hassira&#39;s three daughters, Jouri, Maria and Maha, smile and pose in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. (Noor Abu Hassira via AP)</figcaption></figure> The war resumes But Israel shattered the ceasefire in March, launching more airstrikes after halting imports of food, medicine and other goods &mdash; a complete blockade that would only be eased two-and-a-half months later. In Gaza City, families like the Abu Hassiras are often without food, which costs 10 times what it did before the war: a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of sugar around $180, a kilogram of flour around $60. Over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry, which doesn&#39;t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. In August, international experts determined Gaza City was experiencing famine. Weeks later, Israel launched an offensive to occupy the city, saying it was needed to pressure Hamas into releasing 48 remaining hostages, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive. Abu Hassira has seen the evacuation leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft. Many of her neighbors have packed up and left. But she can barely walk, and a truck ride south would cost around $900. A tent would cost around $1,100, she says, and who knows where they would put it. The Israeli-designated humanitarian zone largely consists of crowded camps and demolished buildings. Families who have moved to new grounds for the displaced have found them sparse and lawless, with armed gangs patrolling the area to demand rent. For now, Abu Hassira says she and her daughters will remain in her parents&rsquo; basement in the once-upscale Rimal neighborhood, near the Mediterranean Sea. She says she can&#39;t cook or wash, and spends her days sitting in a chair or lying down. She needs help to use the bathroom. &ldquo;I wish my daughters and I would die together before we are forced to leave,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We are exhausted.&rdquo;

An injured mother stranded in Gaza City as Israeli troops approach, show the destruction outside her parent's home, where she is sheltering with her three daughters in the Gaza Strip. (AP) 

Asia

Noor Abu Hassira and her daughters, injured and trapped in a Gaza City basement after their home was destroyed and her husband imprisoned, face severe hardship and fear, unable to afford evacuation amid relentless airstrikes and blockade.

Mother and daughters sheltering in Gaza basement await death as airstrikes rage

Reuters

An Israeli drone strike on Sunday killed five people, including three children, in Bint Jbeil, a town in southern Lebanon, the country&rsquo;s health ministry reported.&nbsp;Two others were injured when a motorbike and a vehicle were targeted in the attack, according to Lebanon&rsquo;s state news agency.&nbsp;The strike took place despite a US-brokered truce between Lebanon and Israel, which has been in effect since November following over a year of conflict linked to the Gaza war. Israel has continued to carry out strikes on what it says are Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the victims included a father and his three children, while the mother was wounded. He added the family held US citizenship.&nbsp;A US State Department spokesperson later stated that, while the situation remains uncertain, indications so far suggest the individuals killed were not US citizens, noting one had a previously unused immigrant visa petition.&nbsp;The Israeli military confirmed that the strike killed a Hezbollah member but acknowledged that several uninvolved civilians also lost their lives. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expressed &lsquo;regret&rsquo; over civilian casualties and said the incident is under investigation.&nbsp;Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the attack on social media, calling it a &ldquo;blatant crime against civilians&rdquo; and an intimidation tactic against those returning to villages in the south.&nbsp;Lebanon faces growing pressure from the US, Saudi Arabia, and Hezbollah&rsquo;s political rivals to disarm the Iranian-backed group. Hezbollah has warned that disarmament talks would be a grave mistake as long as Israel continues its airstrikes and occupation in southern Lebanon.

A man inspects a damaged site in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Ansariyeh, south of Sidon, Lebanon. (Reuters)

The victims included a father and his three children, while the mother was wounded. 

Articles tagged with "Israeli airstrikes"

UN reports 100 Palestinians killed daily, Gaza death toll surpasses 61,000

Mother and daughters sheltering in Gaza basement await death as airstrikes rage

5 killed in Israeli drone attack on southern Lebanese town