GAZA/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, Oct 29 (NNN-WAFA/NNA/MA’AN) – The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip has exceeded 43,000, as of yesterday, as the Israeli Zionist forces continued to pound various areas across Lebanon, killing at least 2,710 people since the Hezbollah-Israeli clashes began in Oct, last year.
During the past 48 hours, the Israeli Zionist military killed 96 people and wounded 277 others in Gaza, bringing the total death toll to 43,020, and injuries to 101,110, since the onset of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on Oct 7, 2023, the Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement.
A number of victims remain trapped under the rubble, as ambulance and civil defence teams were unable to reach them, the statement said.
The Israeli regime’s Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement yesterday that, its troops conducted targeted raids in central and southern Gaza, killing alleged “armed militants and dismantling their infrastructure.”
Earlier in the day, the IDF claimed that, it “apprehended about 100 militants” during an operation in Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia of northern Gaza.
The IDF said, the operation was based on intelligence indicating that “terrorists had embedded themselves inside the hospital” and was aimed to allegedly “thwart terrorist activities and apprehend terrorists.”
It alleged that Hamas fighters had repeatedly operated from inside hospitals across the Gaza Strip, “using them to hold hostages, execute terror attacks, and store weapons and explosives” throughout the war.
Meanwhile, in a post on the social media platform X, Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, called for the protection of the hospital, its patients, and staff from further Israeli Zionist attacks, describing the situation as “extremely catastrophic.”
The director said, his son was killed, and 31 hospital staffers were arrested, urging the opening of a humanitarian corridor, to bring in medical teams to provide critical care to the wounded.
In Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported yesterday that, 23 people were killed, and 97 others wounded in the South governorate; nine people were killed and 24 wounded in the Nabatieh governorate; two people were killed and another injured in the Bekaa region; four people were killed and two others injured in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate.
Last night, 44 people were killed and several others injured in the Israeli Zionist airstrikes on Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek.
Lebanese military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that, the barbaric Israeli forces conducted 17 air raids in southern Lebanon, and five in the east, while artillery fired indiscriminately 45 shells at 20 border towns and villages. Israeli infantry, supported by Merkava tanks, advanced towards several villages in southern Lebanon, but were met with artillery and missile fire from Hezbollah’s Islamic Resistance.
Hezbollah confirmed targeting Israeli soldiers and armoured vehicles near Margaliot, along with missile strikes at Israeli forces near Kafr Kila, Rab El Thalathine, and al-Taybeh. A video from Hezbollah’s media showed its forces repelling an Israeli commando, attempting to infiltrate al-Taybeh.
As the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon continue, the illegal Israeli regime Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said yesterday, he strives to continue the process of the Abraham Accords and achieve peace with more Arab countries.
In a speech on the opening day of the winter session of the Knesset, the Israeli regime’s parliament, Netanyahu said, Israel’s priority is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “Stopping the Iranian nuclear programme is at the forefront of our minds,” he said.
Netanyahu noted that his regime maintains “a continuous dialogue” with the U.S., but “makes the choice of targets and objectives ourselves, according to our interests and considerations.”
The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, normalised Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco.
Meanwhile, the regime’s parliament yesterday passed a law, prohibiting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Israel.
“As it is proven that UNRWA and its employees participate and are involved in ‘terrorist activity against Israel,’ it is proposed to establish that Israel will act to stop all activities of the agency in its territory,” the explanatory notes to the law read.
In a post on X, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UNRWA, said, the vote against the agency “is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent.”
“It opposes the UN Charter and violates the regime of Israel’s obligations under international law … These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell,” he wrote.– NNN/WAFA/NNA/MA’AN
