Palestinians react to an Israeli attack on Sunday in a tented area in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip. Health officials confirmed that the attack killed several people, including a woman, and injured many others.
Abdul Karim Khana/Associated Press
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Abdul Karim Khana/Associated Press
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli attack early Sunday killed 12 people in Gaza, four of whom were taking shelter in a tent camp for displaced people inside a hospital building, while a Palestinian stabbed one in a Tel Aviv suburb. Two people died.
Tensions have risen after nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate attacks in Lebanon and Iran last week. The killings have prompted threats of retaliation from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war.
A woman in her 70s and a man in his 80s were killed and two other men injured in the stabbing attack, according to the Israeli Magen David Adom relief agency and a nearby hospital. Police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant who had been “subdued” and that a search was underway for other suspects.
An Israeli police officer works at the scene of a stabbing in Holon, Israel A Palestinian attack in Holon, Israel, on Sunday killed a woman and injured several others, Israeli police said.
Tomer Appelbaum/AP
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Rescuers said the injured were found in three different locations, each about 500 meters apart, fueling fears that more than one attacker was involved.
Last week, a top Hezbollah commander was killed in an attack in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader was killed in an attack in the Iranian capital, and Israel has been preparing for retaliation. Both incidents are related to the ongoing war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October.
An Israeli attack on a tent camp housing displaced people in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital early Sunday killed four people, including a woman, and injured many others, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Associated Press journalists filmed people rushing to the scene to help the injured and recover bodies while trying to put out the fire.
The hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main medical facility operating in central Gaza, where thousands of people have taken refuge after fleeing their homes in the war-torn region.
Another attack flattened a house in northern Gaza, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents and their grandmother, according to the ministry.
The health ministry in Gaza announced the death toll on Sunday, after an Israeli attack on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City on Saturday killed at least 16 people and injured 21 others. The Israeli military has often accused Palestinian militants of taking refuge in civilian areas and said it attacked Hamas command centers.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians, but the military rarely comments on individual attacks, which often kill women and children. Gaza’s health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its statistics.
Last October, militants led by Hamas launched a raid in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 people hostage.
Israel’s massive offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,550 Palestinians, according to the region’s health ministry, which did not disclose how many of them were militants. Intense airstrikes and ground operations have caused massive destruction and displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Hezbollah has frequently exchanged fire with Israel along the Lebanese border since the war began, a move the militant group said was aimed at taking pressure off its Iran-backed ally Hamas. Sustained strikes and counterattacks have intensified in recent months, raising fears of an even more destructive regional war.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli artillery fire in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza war began. Most were killed during Israeli attacks and violent protests. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, and the Palestinians hope to establish the three territories as their future state.
