Israel’s war on Gaza: At least 66 killed in central Gaza in past day
- Morgues are overflowing and hospitals are struggling to cope with a surge of casualties in Deir el-Balah, medical sources tell Al Jazeera, as at least 66 people are killed in the past 24 hours by Israeli strikes on central Gaza.
- Israel announced its ground forces have moved into the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, while fighter jets and artillery attack targets in the area.
Hundreds of far-right Israelis enter Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Wafa news agency reports that nearly 800 far-right Israelis have stormed the mosque’s grounds, under the protection of Israeli police, ahead of the provocative “Flag March” taking place today in occupied Jerusalem.
Sources told Wafa that sources said that one of the groups that entered the compound was accompanied by former lawmaker Moshe Feiglin.
Israeli military claims to kill Hamas fighters in central Gaza
Israeli forces are pressing on with their offensive in central Gaza, including Bureij camp and eastern Deir el-Balah, where they have waged a series of intelligence-based air strikes, the military said in its latest war update.
The strikes have targeted military compounds, weapons depots, and Hamas fighters, killing several of them, according to the military.
In addition, Israeli troops have continued their offensive on Rafah in the south, said the military, fighting and killing armed fighters there as well.
Israel’s latest round of attacks across Gaza have also killed and wounded dozens of civilians, according to the Wafa news agency, particularly in densely-populated central areas that have suffered heavy bombardment.
Israel transferring prisoners out of notorious military-run detention camp
Israel’s military is winding down operations at the Sde Teiman detention camp, which has been dogged by allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners, according to Israeli justice officials.
State lawyers, responding to a petition filed by an Israeli rights group, said 1,200 prisoners in the camp have already been transferred out, leaving just 200 inmates there.
The reduced numbers will help officials improve conditions at the camp, whose ultimate future has yet to be decided, they say.
Inmates of Sde Teiman, located in the Negev desert, have experienced harrowing abuse, according to whistleblowers, including routine beatings, forced stress positions and amputations due to handcuff injuries.
Hamas denounces far-right Israeli march through Jerusalem
Later today, a “Flag March” of thousands of far-right extremist Israelis will take place in occupied Jerusalem, commemorating “Jerusalem Day”, an Israeli public holiday that marks the day that Israel gained full control over Jerusalem in 1967.
The route takes marchers through the Damascus Gate and the city’s Muslim Quarter, past Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“The march of flags in occupied Jerusalem is an aggression against our peoples and holy sites”, a statement from Hamas says.
This “Flag March” in past years has prompted calls from both inside Israel and the international community for a change of route, due to the violence that often accompanies it.
The march is expected to commence in the early afternoon, local time.
Death toll in central Gaza rises
A total of 75 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in central Gaza over the last day, report our colleagues on the ground, citing a local medical source.
As we’ve been reporting, the attacks have hammered the densely populated Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, as well as neighbourhoods east of Deir el-Balah.
Al Aqsa Hospital, the only functioning health facility in the area, cannot cope with the number of victims flooding in, its officials have warned.
Why is Israel’s military reinvading Bureij?
Omar Ashour, a professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, says the Israeli military’s reinvasion of Bureij camp – an area it has repeatedly claimed to have cleared of Hamas fighters – could show either a military or intelligence failure.
“It’s one of two things: either the strategy is not functioning … or they have bad intelligence on what’s going on”, Ashour told Al Jazeera.
A third possibility, he added, is that the military is attempting to build up another strategic “strong point” in central Gaza, disrupting mobility in the area and providing a launching pad for future targeted raids.
However, operations in densely populated areas, he said, end up killing “a lot of civilians”, even without achieving the government’s objectives.
Hezbollah attacks Israeli soldiers
The Lebanese group has claimed that its fighters attacked a “gathering” of soldiers near the Israeli army’s Birkat Risha site, using close-range missiles.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have ramped up in recent days as Israel is threatening to escalate its so far low-level campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
