Israeli tanks advance deep into northern Gaza Strip
Israeli forces expanded their assault into northern Gaza, and tanks reached the northern edge of Gaza City, attacking several districts of the Sheikh Radwan area, forcing many families to flee their homes.
Early on October 14, an Israeli airstrike hit several tents housing displaced Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, where 1 million people are sheltering. According to medical staff, the incident killed three people and injured 40 others.
Videos shared on social media, which could not be immediately verified, showed several tents burning as some Palestinians tried in vain to extinguish the fires.
The Israeli military said it struck gunmen operating from a command center inside the complex, accusing Hamas of using civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes, which Hamas denies.
Local residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya in the northernmost part of the enclave from Gaza City, blocking access between the two areas, allowing only families willing to comply with evacuation orders and leave the three towns.
Nine days after a major Israeli offensive began in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run Gaza administration’s media office said Israeli airstrikes had killed around 300 Palestinians there. They said the Israeli bombardments of homes and refugee shelters were aimed at forcing residents to leave Gaza permanently, something Israel denies.
Late on October 13, Israeli shelling killed at least 22 Palestinians at a school where displaced families from the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip were taking shelter, according to medical workers.
The Hamas-run Gaza government's media office said at least 15 children and women were among those killed at the school. It added that 80 others were injured.
Hours earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed five children at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. The children were playing near a cafe when they were hit by a missile fired from an Israeli drone, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA and Hamas media.
The Israeli military has not immediately commented on these two reports.
“What is happening in northern Gaza is too horrible for words,” UN acting aid chief Joyce Msuya said in a post on social media platform X. “Israeli attacks are intensifying. Hospitals are being forced to evacuate patients. Essential supplies are running low. People are being forced from their homes, cut off from aid, starved. These atrocities must stop.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's candidate in next month's presidential election, cited UN reports that no food had been delivered to northern Gaza for nearly two weeks, telling X: "Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need. Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected."
