Israeli strikes continue, Gaza's displaced population faces deadly diseases

Israel kept up its barrage of the Gaza Strip despite intensifying international calls to reduce civilian casualties from its bombardment as a surge in deadly diseases sweeps through displaced residents.

An overnight Israeli strike on two residential buildings in Rafah killed at least 20 people, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad Group, said its fighters "engaged in fierce clashes" with the Israeli forces in al-Zaytoun and Shujayea in east of Gaza, and Sheikh Radwan in the west of the enclave, Al Jazeera reported.

The group also said on its Telegram channel that it bombed a military post and surrounding targets in the Sufa settlement in southern Israel with "missile barrages."

READ MORE

Gaza reporter: It's more than a job

COP28 nations strike pact to transition away from fossil fuels

Cleaning Italy's skies

Israel says its attacks on Gaza are aimed at annihilating Hamas, the group whose fighters stormed across the border fence from Gaza on October 7, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and seizing 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel has laid much of the Palestinian enclave to waste. At least 18,608 people have been killed, including 7,000 children, and 50,594 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The vast majority of the population of 2.3 million has fled their homes, many sleeping rough, leaving them vulnerable to illness.

The total number of arrests since October 7 has exceeded 4,400 after 17 more people were detained overnight and during the day, according to a statement by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

The detentions took place in Hebron, Tubas, Bethlehem, the occupied East Jerusalem, Nablus and Ramallah.

'A textbook formula for epidemics' 

At Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the trauma ward has been overwhelmed with the wounded, sick babies were also crammed several to a bed in the children's ward.

"A number of patients come with cases of extreme dehydration, some of which can get to the point of kidney failure or weakening kidney function," said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics.

There had already been up to 30 cases of hepatitis A, which takes up to a month to incubate, he said.

"So after a month there will be an explosion in the number of cases of hepatitis A, and this is a very dangerous indicator that should be paid attention to, from overcrowding and consuming food not fit for human consumption and using shared toilets," he warned.

Israeli forces, which invaded Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, have prevented medical staff from providing care to 10 injured people in the emergency unit, causing two of them to die, said Dr Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in Gaza.

The coastal strip is now facing a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease, the UN humanitarian office said.

"We've got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster," said Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Gaza without Hamas 'a delusion'

In central Rafah, in the south of the coastal enclave, 24 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit two houses, Hamas media said. There was no immediate confirmation from the Palestinian health ministry. 

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is visiting the region and will be in Israel for two days, will have "extremely serious conversations" in Israel, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Netanyahu has said there is "disagreement" with Washington over how a post-conflict Gaza would be governed.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said "any arrangement in Gaza or in the Palestinian cause without Hamas or the resistance factions is a delusion."

He said Hamas was ready for talks that could lead to a "political path that secures the right of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

A poll published by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research showed Haniyeh had the support of 78 percent of people in the Palestinian territories, compared with 58 percent before the war.

Israel's 'dumb bombs'

Sullivan would also discuss with the Israelis the need to be more precise with their strikes against Hamas targets, spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in this war have been unguided, otherwise known as "dumb bombs," according to a U.S. intelligence assessment reported by CNN.

About 40 to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided and the rest have been precision-guided munitions, the CNN report said.

Fears of the conflict spreading in a volatile region remain.

A tanker in the Red Sea off Yemen's coast was fired on by gunmen in a speedboat and targeted with missiles, maritime sources said. It is the latest incident to threaten the vital shipping lane after Yemeni Houthi forces, which are backed by Iran, warned ships not to travel to Israel. 

The cost of the Israel-Palestine war to neighbors Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan in terms of loss of GDP may amount to $10.3 billion or 2.3 percent, and might double if the conflict lasts six more months, a study commissioned by the UN Development Programme said. 

Israeli settler attacks in West Bank

The Biden administration is delaying the sale to Israel of more than 20,000 U.S.-made rifles over concerns about increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Some 271 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, including 69 children, in the occupied West Bank this year, the UN Palestinian refugee agency said.

At least 288 displaced people in shelters run by the agency have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the agency added in a post on X.

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in the ground offensive has reached 115, and more than 600 wounded, according to an Israeli military website. 

Some Biden administration staffers held a vigil in front of the White House to call on Washington to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

The group of around 60 people carried a banner that read: "President Biden, your staff demands a ceasefire." 

In New York, a demonstration was held demanding the release of the remaining 135 hostages held in Gaza.

Most Israelis say the army should not back off its unrelenting offensive to crush Hamas.

"It's awful. It's awful that there are so many civilian casualties," said Jerusalem resident Adam Saville. "But this is war, and that's what happens in war."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday