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Reports from local hospitals indicate that more than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, with the majority of fatalities occurring in Gaza City.
First responders reported that at least 20 individuals, including women and children, were among those killed in a strike that impacted a building and tents sheltering displaced families near the Firas market in Gaza City’s central Daraj neighborhood overnight.
The Israeli military stated that it conducted a strike targeting two Hamas fighters, adding that the reported number of casualties does not align with its own assessment.
Concurrently, Israeli tanks and troops continued their advance into the core of Gaza City, which Israel describes as the last remaining stronghold of Hamas.
The military has stated that its ground offensive is aimed at securing the release of hostages still held by Hamas and ensuring the “decisive defeat” of the Palestinian armed group.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled Gaza’s largest urban center, where a famine was confirmed last month by a UN-backed body. However, hundreds of thousands more remain in the city, facing dire humanitarian conditions amid the collapse of health and other essential services.
In a separate development, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that President Donald Trump presented a “21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza” to a group of Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Witkoff did not disclose specific details of the plan but indicated that it addressed “Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbors in the region.”
“We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,” he added.
Hospitals in Gaza City reported on Wednesday afternoon that they had received the bodies of over 60 individuals killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire since midnight.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported that a third of the fatalities resulted from an Israeli strike on a warehouse sheltering displaced people near the Firas market, with six women and nine children among the deceased.
Independent verification of these reports remains challenging, as international journalists, including those from the BBC, are currently restricted from entering Gaza by Israel.
However, video footage from the scene depicted individuals removing a body wrapped in a blanket from the rubble of a destroyed building.
Mohammed Hajjaj, who lost relatives in the incident, told AFP news agency that the site was struck by “heavy bombing” while people were asleep.
“We came and found children and women torn apart. It was a pitiful sight,” he recounted.
Additional images showed individuals mourning near at least six bodies in white shrouds and plastic bags laid on the floor outside al-Ahli hospital.
Tala al-Deeb identified four of the bodies as her sister’s husband, two children, and her sister’s father-in-law.
In response to a request for comment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated it “struck two Hamas terrorists.”
“The IDF is aware of a claim regarding casualties in the area, however the number of casualties does not align with the information held by the IDF,” the statement added.
Witnesses reported seeing Israeli tanks in the south-western Tel al-Hawa and north-western Rimal neighborhoods elsewhere in Gaza City.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported on Tuesday that Israeli military vehicles were stationed outside al-Quds hospital in Tal al-Hawa, and that its oxygen station had been damaged and rendered inoperable by Israeli gunfire.
The IDF stated on Wednesday that “no direct strike was conducted towards the hospital,” and that the circumstances of the incident are under review.
Separately, the IDF released aerial footage that it claims shows Hamas fighters opening fire from within the compound of al-Shifa hospital in Rimal a few days prior.
Reuters cited a Hamas security official as stating that “criminal gangs” had opened fire at the hospital from outside the compound.
During a visit to Gaza City on Wednesday, the IDF’s Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir stated that it was “operating in the Gaza Strip with a large number of troops, with a focus on striking Gaza City to create conditions for the release of the hostages and for Hamas’ decisive defeat.”
The general also stated that “most of Gaza’s population has already left Gaza City, and we are moving them southward for their safety.”
“I call on Gazan residents: rise up and break away from Hamas – it is responsible for your suffering. The war and the suffering will end if Hamas releases the hostages and relinquishes its weapons,” he added.
Hamas’s military wing warned the IDF that expanding its operations in Gaza City would endanger the 48 remaining hostages, about 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Israeli media cited the IDF as stating that approximately 700,000 residents have evacuated to southern Gaza since plans for the offensive were announced last month.
However, the UN and its humanitarian partners report having monitored only 339,600 people crossing into the south as of Tuesday.
They have also previously warned that the Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” for the displaced in al-Mawasi is already overcrowded and unsafe.
Gaza City resident Thaer Saqr recounted that he attempted to travel south from the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Tuesday with his wife, children, and sister.
“The tanks on the coastal road… opened fire on us, and my sister was killed,” he told AFP.
He stated that they were now at al-Shifa hospital and would “not leave, even if they kill us all.”
On Tuesday, the UN’s human rights office decried the IDF’s tactics in Gaza City, noting a sharp increase in the number of civilians killed in Israeli attacks and stating that the targeting of civilian infrastructure and destruction of homes was “making it likely that the displacement will be permanent.”
The office also criticized Israeli authorities, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, for threatening to destroy Gaza City if Hamas did not comply with Israel’s demands.
“Such tactics and statements seem intended to inflict terror and fear amongst civilians and to force them to leave northern Gaza,” it warned.
The Israeli military launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
According to the territory’s health ministry, at least 65,419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then.
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