Israel launched terrible attack on Gaza ahead of truce: UN

In the hours before Friday’s truce took hold, parts of Gaza experienced the heaviest Israeli artillery bombardment, tank fire and troop operations since the start of the seven-week war, the UN reports said in its latest situation report.

The Jabalia refugee camp was particularly hard hit, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), while Israeli tanks also fired on the city of Khan Younis and Rafah – designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military – in the south of the Gaza Strip.

“In one of the deadliest incidents, at about 20:00 on November 23, a school in Jabalia was hit in an air strike, reportedly killing 27 people and injuring another 93,” the UN said.

The UNOCHA also reports:

•    At least one Palestinian was killed and dozens wounded when Israeli forces opened fire and launched tear gas canisters at people attempting to move from southern Gaza back to their homes in northern Gaza on the first day of the truce.
•    Sewage is reported to be flowing in the streets in several areas across Rafah in the south due to fuel shortages that have hampered a waste-water treatment facility.
•    Israel’s military continues to pressure residents in northern Gaza to flee south.
•    Over a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday afternoon, Israeli forces killed two more Palestinian people – including a 14-year-old teen – in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed there to 213 since October 7. More than a quarter of those killed have been children.
•    As of Friday evening, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the ground invasion of Gaza stood at 75.

(With inputs from Al Jazeera)