Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters hit, no desire for spread of Gaza war

Israeli forces kept up their aerial and ground blitz against Hamas fighters, targeting the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

At least seven people have been injured in a strike that hit the fifth floor of Palestinian Red Crescent headquarters in Khan Younis, said the organization.

Another strike on a neighboring home caused further damage to the facility and the nearby al-Amal hospital, it says.

According to Al Jazeera, explosions across Rafah city were heard in the early hours of the afternoon, mainly coming from the eastern part of the city where heavy artillery shelling is targeting residential areas.

On the western side, gunboats have been firing at the coastal road that people have been told to take to move from the central part of Khan Younis to Rafah city. Reporters are awaiting confirmation of the exact number of casualties.

READ MORE

Palestinian Deputy PM: Peace negotiations must include West Bank

Ice cool: the tourists risking their lives to chase erupting volcanoes

A graphological love affair

There was constant overnight bombardment focusing on areas near al-Mawasi evacuation zone, an area where the Israeli military has instructed people to shelter.

A home near that area was destroyed and the two families sheltering there were all killed, a total of 14 people. The youngest victim was five years old, the majority of them were under 10.

The strikes caused the rubble and debris to fall on people inside their tents, injuring dozens. 

There are also reports of more people having been killed in other parts of Khan Younis and central Gaza, with the southern part of Deir el-Balah coming under heavy fire.

Hezbollah and Lebanon to avoid spread of war

Meanwhile, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Israeli army made statements suggesting the two avowed enemies wanted to avoid risking the further spread of war beyond the Gaza Strip after a drone strike killed a Palestinian Hamas deputy leader in Beirut.

In a speech in Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his group "cannot be silent" following the killing of Hamas Deputy Saleh al-Arouri.

Nasrallah said his heavily armed forces would fight to the end if Israel chose to extend the war to Lebanon, but he made no concrete threats to act against Israel in support of Hamas.

Israel neither confirmed nor denied assassinating Arouri but has promised to annihilate Hamas, following the group's October 7 cross-border assault. Israel says 1,140 people were killed, most of them civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. The fighters also took around 250 people hostage that day, more than half of whom remain in Gaza, according to Israeli officials.

Israel launched a ground and aerial blitz of Gaza in response, and the total recorded Palestinian death toll has reached 22,313 - almost one percent of its 2.3 million population, and mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said.

Israel 'focused on the fight against Hamas'

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, when asked what Israel was doing to prepare for a potential Hezbollah response, told a reporter: "I won't respond to what you just mentioned. We are focused on the fight against Hamas." 

White House spokesperson John Kirby, asked about Nasrallah's speech, told reporters: "We haven't seen Hezbollah jump in with both feet to come to Hamas' aid and assistance."

Another U.S. official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, suggested neither Hezbollah nor Israel wanted a war.

Arouri's killing was a further sign of the potential the war might spread well beyond Gaza, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border and Red Sea shipping lanes.

Arouri, 57, who lived in Beirut, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated outside Palestinian territories since Israel began its offensive against the group.

Hezbollah has been embroiled in nearly daily exchanges of shelling with Israel across Lebanon's southern border since the Gaza war began. On Wednesday, a local Hezbollah official and three other members were killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, two security sources told reporters.

More than 120 Hezbollah fighters and two dozen civilians have been killed on Lebanese territory, as well as at least nine Israeli soldiers in Israel.

'Not realistic' for Palestinians to leave Gaza

Israel had long accused Arouri of orchestrating attacks on its citizens. But a Hamas official said he was also "at the heart of negotiations" conducted by Qatar and Egypt over the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of Hamas-held Israeli hostages. 

Nasrallah spoke to commemorate four years since the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. 

Two explosions on Wednesday during a memorial ceremony at a cemetery in southeastern Iran where Soleimani is buried, killed nearly 100 people at a time of high tensions between Iran and Israel.

Israeli bombardments have flattened much of the densely populated enclave, wreaking a humanitarian disaster. Most Gazans have been left homeless, crammed into shrinking areas in hope of rudimentary shelter, with food shortages threatening famine.

The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harm to civilians and blames Hamas for embedding fighters within residential areas, a charge the group denies.

The Israeli military said the number of its soldiers killed since its first ground incursion on October 20 had reached 177.

Miki Zohar, Israel's culture and sports minister, has said it is "not realistic" for Palestinians to leave Gaza, even if some Israelis would like to see it happen.

"It's not realistic, and it's clear that the international community will not accept it," Zohar told Israeli news site Ynet, adding that this subject should not be discussed publicly.

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