Deir Al-Balah: The Israeli military said air strike sirens rang out in several parts of the country after a missile strike earlier on Thursday.
In Jerusalem, several explosions were heard shortly after the sirens rang. There were no reports of immediate injuries.
Yemen’s Houthi resumed missile strikes this week after Israel and Hamas ceasefire.
Police also reported attacks on Israel’s central siren at 4 a.m.
MADA Rescue Department said it had no reports of injury.
Israel said on Wednesday that its forces recaptured Gaza’s split corridor, with its defense minister warning that the attack would intensify until Hamas freed dozens of hostages and abandoned control of the territory.
The military said it had recaptured part of the Netzarim corridor, which opened Northern Gaza from the southern part and withdrawn from previously as part of a ceasefire that began in January. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, the truce was killed by Israeli air strikes and killed more than 400 Palestinians, mainly women and children.
Israel’s progress on the ground on Wednesday, including sending more troops to southern Gaza, threatened to drag the sides into a full-scale war again. The ceasefire gives the war’s Palestinians some respite, giving much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza and resulting in the release of dozens of hostages who have been detained for more than 15 months.
Inside Israel, the resumption of air strikes and ground drills has raised concerns about the fate of more than 2220 hostages held by Hamas, who are believed to be still alive. Thousands of Israelis participated in anti-government demonstrations in Jerusalem, and many called for the captives to be brought home.
Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanou said the moves of the Gaza ground forces were a clear signal that Israel has withdrawn from the truce and is re-forming a “lockdown.” There have been no reports of Hamas rocket attacks since Tuesday’s bombing.
The United Nations also said Wednesday that one of the employees was killed in Gaza and five others were injured in a hotel’s apparent strike. The UN said it was not clear who was behind the strike.
Israel initiates ground operations of Co., Ltd. in Gaza
The military said its “limited ground operations” in Gaza will create a “partial buffer” between northern and southern Gaza.
It is not clear whether the move would completely stop Palestinians from traveling north or south through the Netzarim corridor.
During the war, Israel used approximately 4 miles (6 kilometers) of corridors as military zones. It extends from the Israeli border to the coast, just south of Gaza, the largest metropolitan area in the region.
Israel said Wednesday’s air strikes hit dozens of militants and militants, including the command center of the Hamas Battalion. It denies Palestinians claim it attacked the United Nations hotel.
Fares Awad, an official from the Gaza Health Ministry, said 17 people were killed and 30 injured in an Israeli strike gathered in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Israel says it will soon order new evacuations for Palestinians in Gaza
Until Israel retreated from Netzarim in January, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled northern Gaza were prevented from returning throughout the war. Many of them have returned since then.
But Israeli Defense Minister Katz said the military will soon order the Palestinians to evacuate the combat zone.
Katz said Tuesday’s air strikes “just the first step in Israel’s plan to increase pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages and give up control of Gaza. Until this is done, Israel will “attack at a strength you don’t know.”
UN workers killed during strike
Jorge Moreira Da Silva, head of the United Nations Office of Project Services, declined to say who had a strike in the central city of Deir Al-Balah. The explosion was not accidental, nor was it related to degradation activities, he said.
He did not provide the nationality of the killed and injured persons.
Moreira da Silva said Monday’s strikes hit near the compound and hit directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. He said the agency contacted the Israeli military after the first strike. “Israel knows that this is the premise of the United Nations, people live there, stay there,” he said.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said the explosion was not caused by the Israeli fire.
The injured were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah after a strike on Wednesday. A man was taken to a blanket held by a medical staff. Another lying on the hospital bed, his knees tensed.
In southern Lebanon, a UN peacekeeper was injured after stepping on a mine. UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said the incident occurred during the “operational activities” of the peacekeeping mission in Zibqin village, adding that the injury was not life-threatening.
Hundreds of Palestinians killed in Israel’s new offensive
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said there have been at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, since Israel launched a strike earlier on Tuesday. It said another 678 people were injured.
The military said it would only attack militants and blame it on the death of civilians in Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.
According to local health officials, the war has killed nearly 49,000 Palestinians and displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. The Ministry of Health did not distinguish between civilians and militants, but said more than half of the dead were women and children.
When militants led by Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the war broke out, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and hijacking 251 hostages. Most have been released in a ceasefire or other deal; there are 59 hostages, more than half believed to be dead.
Israelis protest their government
Before the attack this week, Israel and Hamas will negotiate to extend the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which lasted for six weeks.
But those conversations never got off the ground. Hamas asked Israel to stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire agreement, including a complete evacuation from Gaza and the end of the war. Israel, which vowed to defeat Hamas, has proposed a new proposal that would expand the truce and release the hostages held by Hamas without ending the war.
In Israel, the collapse of the ceasefire has been furious, and many support the plight of hostage families to free their loved ones.
Israel’s return to the military movement is due to the increasing domestic pressure Netanyahu faces mass protests in handling the hostage crisis and his plans to fire the head of the Israeli internal security bureau. Demonstrators shone around the Israeli parliament on Wednesday, and later marched near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem where police sprayed water to remove them.
