March 24 (UPI) — New airstrikes by Israel Defense Forces in Gaza killed at least 61 Palestinians over a 24-hour time frame. The rising death toll included two journalists.
A series of Israeli attacks by Sunday morning left at least 30 people dead in Khan Younis and Rafah in what was the latest set of IDF attacks, on Nasser hospital in Gaza, which reportedly killed two senior Hamas officials, including Ismail Barhoum, a top leader of Iran’s proxy militia in Gaza.
Israeli officials claimed Hamas’ rejection and ultimately the collapse of a U.S.-backed peace deal was the reason behind Israeli military airstrikes which killed more than 700 Palestinians in a little more than a week.
“Naturally, we will not comment on future operational plans,” the Israel Defense Forces told NBC on Monday in a statement, with the IDF claiming it acted “accordance with operational plans that were devised by the appropriate professional bodies, and by the directive of the political echelon.”
Hamas leaders, however, have pinned blame on Israel for its refusal to continue negotiations on phase two of the cease-fire deal pieced together by the prior Biden administration as it mounts further airstrikes on the plagued Palestinian territory.
It marked the latest chapter of escalating violence, which erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when more than 200 Israeli hostages were taken captive by Hamas militants.
Meanwhile, the death toll has spilled over to more than 50,000 and at least 113,408 wounded in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to new numbers by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
It added that “thousands” of other Palestinian civilians are reported missing and presumed dead under debris as it updated its death toll to 61,700.
An Al Jazeera journalist, Hossam Shabat, who was baselessly accused by Israel of being a “militant,” was killed Monday when his car was blown up in the northern Gaza Strip — one of a number of other journalists killed by Israeli military strikes and arbitrarily accused of various crimes.
Shabat was reporting to fill a “news void” in Gaza as Israeli officials have sought to hide credible and ongoing reports of the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, according to Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the independent Committee to Protect Journalists.
“That’s a pattern that we have seen repeatedly both in the current war and in previous ones, as well,” said Ginsberg, adding Shabat “appears to have been deliberately targeted on a direct hit on his vehicle.”
The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the attack following what it says was an “an extensive intelligence-gathering process” and that “precise munitions” had been used to reduce casualties and related harm.
“The deliberate and targeted killing of a journalist, of a civilian, is a war crime,” added the CPJ’s Ginsberg.
Nearly 60 hostages, both dead and alive, are believed to still be held in captivity by Hamas as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has dug in its heels in the war-torn enclave.
“The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday as the government ordered troops to permanently seize parts of Gaza unless Hamas sets free its remaining hostages.
