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Israeli forces intensified their assault on central Gaza Wednesday, killing at least nine Palestinians, according to health officials, while tanks made a limited advance into northern Rafah.
An Israeli airstrike around midnight on a house in Al-Zawyda, central Gaza, killed eight people, health officials reported.
Another strike in Nuseirat camp claimed one life, adding to the toll of 23 people killed in an airstrike on a school there a day earlier.
Residents reported that Israeli tanks shelled the eastern areas of Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi camps in central Gaza.
An airstrike also destroyed a mosque, according to residents.
Meanwhile, in Rafah, tanks carried out a raid in the north of the city before retreating, a tactic Israeli forces have used in other areas before mounting deeper incursions.
Tanks have operated in most parts of the city since May, although they have not gone deep into the northern districts.
Medics said an Israeli strike killed two people in Rafah on Wednesday, while residents said the forces had blown up dozens of homes.
The Israeli military said troops were “continuing precise, intelligence-based operational activity in the Rafah area.”
It said they had eliminated a Hamas cell and a launcher that had been used to fire at troops.
It added that airstrikes had struck 25 targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the past day and that troops were continuing to operate in the central area, including dismantling structures used to observe the soldiers.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its members killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in an incursion on southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.
On Tuesday, the Israelis claimed it had eliminated half of the leadership of Hamas’s military wing, with about 14,000 members killed or captured since the start of the war.
At least 38,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory genocidal offensive since then, Gaza health authorities say.
Diplomatic efforts by Arab mediators to halt the hostilities, backed by the U.S., seem to be on hold, but officials from all sides have said they are open to more talks, including Israel and Hamas, who have traded blame over the current impasse.
A deal would aim to end the war and release Israeli hostages in Gaza in return for many Palestinians jailed by Israel.
On Wednesday, Israel released 13 Palestinians held during the military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement.
The freed captives were transferred to a hospital in the central Gaza Strip for treatment.
Many of the hundreds of Palestinians Israel has released in the past months have recounted Israeli forces of ill-treatment and torture.
The Palestinian Prisoner Association said nearly 20 Palestinians had died in Israeli detention after being detained from Gaza.
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