GAZA STRIP, Jan 16 (AFP): Israel pummelled southern Gaza on Tuesday, killing dozens, even as authorities announced the winding down of the intense phase of the war that has inflamed tensions across the Middle East.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under mounting international pressure to end its offensive in Gaza launched in response to Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks.
But fears are mounting the war could be widening, with Iran and its proxies stepping up attacks across the region in solidarity with Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Palestinian territory.
Overnight, a wave of Israeli strikes killed at least 78 people in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's press office said. An AFP correspondent said the southern city of Khan Yunis was hit hard.
On Tuesday morning, a barrage of 50 rockets was fired at southern Israel, near Netivot, without causing any casualties, the Israeli army said.
Fighting has ravaged Gaza since October 7, when Hamas militants carried out an unparalleled attack on Israel that resulted in about 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
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