Israel, Hamas Continue Strikes As Toll Rises

Amidst airstrikes targeting militant targets in Gaza and rocket launches by Palestinian groups, Israel and Hamas dismissed international efforts to extend their expiring truce on Saturday.

Naija News reports that smoke filled the skies over the northern Palestinian region, whose Hamas leadership said 240 people had been killed since a cease-fire expired early Friday and battle began.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian organizations, declared “rocket barrages” on several Israeli cities and towns, including Tel Aviv, while the Home Front Command of the Israeli military recorded forty missile alerts in the country’s south and center.

“Over 250 rockets have been fired at Israel since Friday morning, the vast majority of those have not been successful in reaching their destination. Each one of those, obviously, is intended to kill Israelis,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said.

As a result of eight weeks of fighting, the UN estimates that 1.7 million people in Gaza, or more than two-thirds of the population, are internally displaced.

The chief physician at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab hospital, Fadel Naim, stated that 30 bodies—seven of which were children—had been brought into his morgue on Saturday.

A large number of homes have been destroyed, and the populace lacks food, water, and other necessities. Despite some relief trucks arriving on Saturday, UN agencies have declared a humanitarian crisis.