Gaza's civil defense reports 18 killed by Israeli raids, gunfire

The civil defense in the Gaza Strip reported Tuesday that 18 people were killed by new airstrikes and gunfire from the Israeli army in the besieged and starving Palestinian territory after 21 months of war, including two women near an aid center.

"At least 18 martyrs were transported by civil defense teams [to hospitals to be pronounced dead] since 2 a.m., in several governorates of the Gaza Strip," the rescue organization told AFP. Asked by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately comment.

Most of the deceased were killed by airstrikes in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to the civil defense, which cited six people killed by an airstrike on a tent in Rimal, Gaza City. Two women were also killed "by gunfire from the Israeli army" in the al-Chakouch area, near a U.S. aid distribution point, northwest of Rafah (south), the same source added, also reporting 13 injured.

In the al-Shati refugee camp, on the outskirts of Gaza City, an AFP correspondent saw two men searching for survivors in the rubble of the collapsed Nassar family home. Jihad Omar, one of them, said he hoped to find two children amid the ruins he was searching with almost his bare hands.

'Find us a solution!'

"Find us a solution! Every day, we bury children, women and the elderly," he cried. "Stop the massacre! Let us raise the [remaining] children." The civil defense reported five people killed on the spot by an airstrike.

Hamas, for its part, announced the death of Mohammad Faraj al-Ghoul, described as a former minister in its government in Gaza and a member of its political leadership. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army said it had "struck several Hamas members in the al-Shati area," but did not comment on the events reported by the civil defense at the same location. Additionally, the Israeli army said in a statement that it had "dismantled a terrorist tunnel about 3.5 kilometers long" in the Khan Younis area (south), without specifying when this occurred.

The Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people abducted, 49 are still being held hostage in Gaza, 27 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 58,479 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli reprisals, according to data from the health ministry in Gaza, considered reliable by the U.N.

Israel and Hamas began indirect talks on July 6 in Qatar to reach a 60-day truce linked to a hostage release. But Israel and Hamas are accusing each other of stalling the negotiations.