Israeli strikes on Gaza kill scores of Palestinians

By Linda Bordoni

Multiple Israeli attacks struck Gaza, killing families and children overnight and on Saturday morning. Witnesses said Israel gave no prior warning before bombing a residential apartment in Gaza City.

The death toll is one of the highest since the October ceasefire aimed at stopping the fighting.

A day after Israel accused Hamas of new ceasefire violations, strikes hit locations throughout Gaza, including a tent camp, an apartment building and a police station.

Hospital officials said the casualties included two women and six children from two different families.

The series of strikes also came a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt, a key step in last year’s agreement brokered as a path to ending the war.

All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed throughout almost the entire war and Palestinians see Rafah as a lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.

Second phase of peace plan

The crossing's opening, which will be limited at first, marks the first major step in the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

On the agenda for the phase now underway, also includes the demilitarisation of the strip after nearly two decades of Hamas rule and the installment of a new government to oversee reconstruction.

But Palestinian officials called Saturday’s attacks “a renewed flagrant violation” and urged the United States and other mediating countries to push Israel to stop strikes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has recorded 509 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the start of the ceasefire on Oct. 10.

Israel’s military, which has hit targets on both sides of the ceasefire’s yellow line, has said strikes since October have been in response to violations of the agreement.

Meanwhile, for Palestinians in Gaza, life continues to be a daily struggle amid Israel’s continuing blockade, repeated ceasefire violations and the near-total collapse of the economy.

(Source: AP and other agencies)