At least 10 people were killed and several others were injured as a result of Israeli airstrikes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.
According to the Qatari television channel, the attacks were carried out on residential buildings in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya.
The Israel Defense Forces have issued an evacuation order for the Al-Bureij area in the central part of the Gaza Strip. This is reported by the Times of Israel newspaper.
As the publication notes, IS spokesman Avichai Edri issued a warning in Arabic for residents of the Al-Bureij area to evacuate ahead of expected army airstrikes after rockets were fired from the area at midnight just after the start of the new year. "Terrorist organizations are again firing rockets from this area. "For your safety, immediately go to the humanitarian zone," the message said.
Meanwhile, two rockets were fired from the central Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces press service reported.
The ministry noted that one rocket was intercepted, the second exploded in an uninhabited area.
As a result of this shelling, an air alert was declared in the Western Negev region in the southern part of the Jewish state.
Dozens of patients and wounded were evacuated for treatment outside the war-torn Gaza Strip, where, according to the United Nations, Israeli attacks on hospitals and nearby areas have brought healthcare to a near-total collapse, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Early this morning, 45 patients left the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis and entered through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint into Israel, from where they will travel for treatment in the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian health officials said.
The Health Ministry says several thousand Palestinians in Gaza need medical treatment abroad. Israel has controlled all entry and exit points since it seized the southern city of Rafah in May.
The Israeli offensive, which began after a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has devastated the territory's health system and forced most hospitals to close. Those that remain open are only partially functioning.
The UN human rights office has warned that Israeli attacks on and around hospitals have brought Gaza's health system "to the brink of complete collapse" and may have violated international law.
Since the start of the war, Israeli forces have besieged and raided at least 10 hospitals in Gaza, some of them repeatedly. Israel accuses Hamas militants of using health facilities for military purposes, but has not provided sufficient evidence.
Last week, Israeli troops raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the isolated northern Gaza Strip and detained its director. The army said it had detained 240 suspected militants.
The UN statement said it had documented 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities since October 12, 2023. until June 30, 2024.
“This report graphically describes the destruction of the health system in Gaza and the extent to which patients, staff and other civilians have been killed in these attacks, in flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law and human rights law“, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in a statement.
The report also notes Israel's claims that hospitals lose their protection under international law if used for military purposes. But it says “not enough information has been provided to substantiate these claims, which remain vague and general, and in some cases appear to contradict publicly available information“. Israel has long rejected such accusations from UN bodies, which it says are biased against it.
The nearly 15-month war, sparked by the attack by „Hamas“ on Israel on October 7, 2023, has forced most hospitals in Gaza to close, and the rest are only partially functioning, the AP notes.
Later on the day, Daniel Meron, Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, described the data in the UN report as fabricated, Reuters reported. Meron said on the social network „Ex“ that Israel acts in accordance with international law, that it would never attack innocent civilians, and accused „Hamas“ of using hospitals in Gaza for terrorist activities.