Palestinian officials said Wednesday that Israeli strikes in central and northern Gaza killed at least 18 people, including five children and two women.
Two strikes hit tents for displaced people in the urban Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza early Wednesday. The bodies of nine people, including three children, were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies at the morgue.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli strike hit a family home in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing at least nine people, according to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run government. The dead were taken to the Al-Ahly Hospital, which said two women and two children were among those killed.
Footage shared by the Civil Defense showed first responders recovering dead bodies and body parts from under the rubble.
Israel launched an air and ground operation earlier this week in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has carried out several previous operations in Jabaliya, and its forces have repeatedly returned to other areas of Gaza after militants have regrouped.
"At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area," Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee Agency (UNRWA), posted on X on Wednesday.
"Recent evacuation orders from the Israeli Authorities are forcing people to flee again & again, especially from Jabaliya Camp. Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in #Gaza is safe."
Lazzarini said some UNRWA shelters and services were being forced to shut down for the first time since the war began and that with almost no basic supplies available, hunger was spreading again in northern Gaza.
"This recent military operation also threatens the implementation of the second phase of the #polio vaccination campaign for children," he said.
Israel did not immediately comment on Lazzarini's remarks. Israeli authorities have previously said they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions.
