GAZA, Oct 09 (AP/AFP): A large-scale Israeli operation in northern Gaza has killed and wounded dozens of people and threatens to shut down three hospitals over a year into the war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and residents said Wednesday.
Heavy fighting is underway in Jabaliya, where Israeli forces carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup. The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.
The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel expands a week-old ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a major retaliatory strike on Iran.
Residents of Jabaliya, a refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation, say heavy airstrikes and evacuation warnings have driven hundreds of people from their homes. An airstrike early Wednesday killed at least nine people, including two women and two children, according to the Al-Ahly Hospital, which received the bodies.
Strikes in central Gaza killed another nine people, including three children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that the overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza since the start of the war has surpassed 42,000, with more than 97,000 others wounded.
Hezbollah strikes Israel,
foils Israeli incursions
Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel on Wednesday and said it foiled ground incursions, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon could face destruction like Gaza.
Netanyahu is set to speak with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday about Israel's response to last week's missile attack by Iran, Hezbollah's main backer, US news outlet Axios reported, citing US officials.
Hezbollah said it repelled two Israeli attempts to breach border areas, using rocket-propelled weapons and engaging in ground combat with Israeli soldiers.
Israel said its air defences intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon, setting off sirens around Caesarea, south of Haifa.
Israeli emergency responders said two people were killed Wednesday in a rocket attack on the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, as the army and Lebanon's Hezbollah exchanged fire along the border.
Iran FM visits S Arabia to
end Gaza, Lebanon wars
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is heading to Saudi Arabia Wednesday for talks on efforts to end Israeli attacks on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, his ministry said.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both in the Iran-backed "Axis for Resistance" of militant groups in the region.
Araghchi will visit the Gulf kingdom "in furtherance of our diplomatic efforts, in coordination with countries of the region", ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei posted on X.
He said the trip would focus on stopping "the Israeli regime's genocide & aggression and to alleviate the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Lebanon".
Shiite-dominated Iran and Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia resumed relations in March 2023 under a surprise China-brokered deal following a seven-year rupture.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and custodian of Islam's two holiest sites, paused US-brokered talks on recognising Israel after the Gaza war broke out between Hamas Palestinian militants and Israel.
EU opens 'air bridge'
to fly aid to Lebanon
The European Union said Wednesday it had launched a "humanitarian air bridge" to fly aid to Lebanon as fighting rages between Israel and Hezbollah.
The European Commission said three initial flights were scheduled to carry supplies from Italy and Dubai to the conflict-wracked country, with the first arriving in Beirut on Friday.
"The EU stands by the people affected by the crisis in Lebanon," commission president Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. "From blankets to shelter kits and medicines. More will come."
The EU last week said it was ramping up spending on humanitarian assistance to Lebanon by 30 million euros ($33 million) in response to the unfolding violence.