Israel wages deadly Gaza strikes as northern areas issue plea for help

CAIRO/GAZA: Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with new bombardments that killed at least 30 people on Wednesday, Palestinian medics said, a day after one of the deadliest single strikes of the year-old war killed scores in the north of the enclave.

Eight of Wednesday’s victims were killed in a strike on the Salateen area of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. The area is near where medics said at least 93 people were killed or missing on Tuesday in an Israeli strike Washington called “horrifying”.

The Israeli military assault that has laid waste to the Gaza Strip and killed tens of thousands of people shows no signs of slowing as Israel wages a new war against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and its backer the United States tries after a year of failed attempts to broker ceasefires for both.

Northern Gaza, where Israel said in January it had dismantled militant group Hamas’ command structure, is currently the focus of the military’s assault. It sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia earlier this month to flush out Hamas fighters who it said had regrouped in the area.

The new operation has killed hundreds of Palestinians. On Wednesday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 30 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave, at least 23 of them in northern areas. Tuesday’s strike on a house in Beit Lahiya killed 93, including 20 children, medical workers say.

An Israeli military official said that airstrike, which demolished a building, was not intended to destroy the structure and was aimed at a person on the roof whom troops had identified as a “spotter” amid heavy fighting.