At least 39 people killed in Israeli attacks in northern Gaza, officials say

The deaths came a day after attacks on tent camps near the southern city of Rafah killed at least 25 people and wounded 50. Israel said on Saturday it was continuing its operations in central and southern Gaza and pressing ahead with the invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Most have now fled the city, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and the humanitarian situation is dire, with families living in tents and cramped housing without adequate food, water or medical care.

Another Israeli attack in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley on Saturday killed a member of the military wing of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), a Sunni Muslim faction closely allied with Hamas, the group said. The member was the seventh to be killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began.

The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel responded by bombing and invading the enclave, killing more than 37,400 Palestinians there, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.

Also on Saturday, the Israeli army said an Israeli was shot dead in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces shot dead two militants on Friday. It is the latest outbreak of violence in the area since the war between Israel and Hamas began.

At least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the area since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, which tracks the killings. During the same period, Palestinians in the West Bank killed at least nine Israelis, including five soldiers, according to the UN.

Israeli citizens are prohibited from entering Qalqilya and other areas of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In April, the death of a 14-year-old Israeli settler sparked a series of settler attacks on Palestinian towns in the territory. The army said a Palestinian was later arrested in connection with the killing.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a 12-year-old Palestinian boy had died of his injuries after being shot by Israeli forces in Ramallah last week. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces stormed the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah on Friday to arrest a suspect and then opened fire on a group of Palestinians who threw stones at them.

Israel said on Saturday it was investigating another incident involving the conduct of its soldiers after a video appeared online showing an injured Palestinian being transported on the hood of an Israeli armored vehicle in the northern West Bank. The army said the man in the video was a wanted suspect and was injured in an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces near the city of Jenin. The man was taken to a Red Crescent ambulance nearby, it said. The army said the behavior in the video did not reflect “the army’s values.”

Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, in the 1967 Middle East War. The Palestinians want these territories as part of their hoped-for independent state.

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Jeffery reported from Ramallah and Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.