Israeli Airstrike in Gaza City Leaves Many Dead, Health Officials There Say

An Israeli airstrike on a home in a neighborhood in Gaza City left a heavy death toll on Wednesday and others missing, with rescuers struggling to pull people out of the rubble with little equipment, Gaza’s civil defense service said.

The Israeli military said it had been targeting a Hamas operative who it said was responsible for planning attacks. It did not name the operative or give further details.

A spokesman for the Gazan civil defense service, Mahmoud Basal, said that rescuers had pulled 23 bodies from the destroyed buildings, including those of eight children, with about 20 people still missing. He said the strike had completely destroyed eight homes in Shajaiye, an already hard-hit neighborhood where Israel last week called for evacuations and which housed families who had been displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. Additional airstrikes had targeted other parts of the neighborhood on Wednesday, Mr. Basal said, but rescuers had not yet been able to respond to those strikes.

The service’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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The Israeli military says Hamas operatives embed among civilians. On Wednesday, it said that it had taken “numerous steps” to reduce harm to civilians before striking, using aerial surveillance, “other intelligence” and precise weaponry. A New York Times investigation has found that the Israeli military has loosened its rules on how many civilians it can endanger with each airstrike, and experts on international law note that Israel still has an obligation to protect civilians.

The Gazan civil defense said that its crews were having difficulty pulling out survivors because they lacked heavy equipment to sift through the debris.

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Israel has faced international condemnation for killing tens of thousands of people, including children, in Gaza during its pursuit of Hamas. Gaza health officials say that more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Israel began striking Gaza in October 2023 in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people. Both figures include combatants and civilians.

The Israeli military said on Friday that its forces had begun operating in Shajaiye to “expand the security zone,” referring to what the military has characterized as a buffer zone next to Israel’s border with Gaza.

The military had warned people to leave northern Gaza late last week as it expanded its ground campaign. But while many followed the evacuation orders, others chose to stay in their homes or in shelters, saying that they could not face more upheaval after enduring displacement after displacement earlier in the war. Israel is holding an increasing amount of territory, leaving Gazans even fewer places to go.

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During the first 15 months of war, the fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas reduced much of Shajaiye to a wasteland. Buildings were demolished, roads torn apart and infrastructure destroyed.

A shaky cease-fire paused the fighting and allowed more humanitarian help than before to enter Gaza from January to March. But after cutting off aid in early March, Israel broke the cease-fire on March 18 with renewed airstrikes after the two sides failed to reach an agreement to extend the truce.

Since then, the Israeli military has bombed Gaza repeatedly and seized more territory, a strategy that Israeli officials say is intended to compel Hamas to release more hostages.

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