Israeli strikes kill at least 48 in Gaza, West Bank city 'cut off from the world'

Aug. 31, 2024, 1:48 p.m.

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At least 48 people lost their lives in the Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrikes on Saturday, Palestinian health officials reported. These attacks occurred amidst confrontations in the central and southern parts of the enclave.

Israel's military forces conducted raids in Jenin, situated in the occupied West Bank, completely isolating the city from the rest of the world on the fourth day of their operation. A large number of Israeli soldiers were positioned on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp, with Israeli military vehicles entering the area.

Advertisement Concrete slabs and sheet metal were piled high alongside streets in Jenin, as residents assessed the damage from Israel’s latest West Bank raid even as explosions persisted nearby.

The aftermath of the ongoing clashes in the occupied Palestinian territory, initiated on Wednesday as a counter-terrorism operation according to Israel, was evident everywhere: collapsed walls, uprooted trees, and tiled roofs covering mounds of rubble.

On the initial day of the raid, bulldozers roared through the streets of a neighborhood in east Jenin, clearing paths for Israeli soldiers. As they tore up the asphalt, they also ruptured underground pipelines, residents reported to AFP.

Three days later, with fighting elsewhere in the city continuing, “we are cut off from the world”, Taher al-Saadi said.

“The water is cut off. The electricity is cut off, the sewage system is no longer working. All the infrastructure is destroyed, we no longer have any services that work.”

He added: “The bakeries are at a standstill. We can’t find milk for the children.”

Israeli military operations in Jenin are not uncommon, as the refugee camp serves as a stronghold for armed groups opposed to Israel.

The operation that commenced on Wednesday was of an unusually large scale and duration, targeting multiple West Bank cities simultaneously. In Jenin, there is no indication of the operation subsiding.

“I think it’s the worst day since the start of the raid,” Wisam Bakr, director of Jenin Government Hospital, said on Saturday.

Advertisement “We hear from time to time clashes and sometimes there is big bombing.”

Residents and militant sources confirmed that fighters from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other groups engaged in combat with Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Zeitoun neighborhood, where tanks have been active for an extended period, as well as in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

The Israeli military reported in a statement that its forces continued their operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip. They stated that troops had eliminated militants and destroyed military infrastructure in Gaza City, while also discovering weapons and engaging in combat with gunmen in Tel Al-Sultan, located in western Rafah.

After a 22-day military operation in the southern Gaza Strip, families in Khan Younis returned to their neighborhoods. The Israeli army stated the operation aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping. Visuals revealed widespread destruction, with buildings and essential infrastructure flattened.

The most recent chapter in the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7th when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people and the capture of approximately 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

With inputs from agencies.