CAIRO – An Israeli air strike on houses at a refugee camp killed several people and wounded others on Oct 27, as Israeli forces stepped up their campaign in northern Gaza.

       Medics said the new strike damaged several houses in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, which has been the focus of an Israeli military offensive for more than three weeks.

       Israel says its forces have returned to northern Gaza more than a year into the war with Hamas to root out the militant group’s fighters who have regrouped there. It said on Oct 25 that three of its soldiers were killed in combat in the northern part of the enclave.

       The Israeli military said in a statement it has “eliminated over 40 terrorists” in the Jabalia area in the past 24 hours, as well as dismantled infrastructure and located “large quantities of military equipment”.

       In addition, its said its forces eliminated a “terrorist cell” during a close-quarter encounter in central Gaza.

       The death toll from an Israeli air strike late on Oct 26 on a residential district in the nearby town of Beit Lahiya rose to 40, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

       The Israeli military said it carried out “a precise strike using precise munitions on Hamas terrorists within a structure in the area of Beit Lahiya in the Gaza Strip. A number of terrorists have been hit in the strike”.

       It added that the high number of casualties mentioned in media reports did not align with the type of munitions used in the precision attack.

       Israeli military strikes on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed around 800 people during a three-week offensive, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

       Palestinian health officials said the ongoing Israeli aerial and ground offensive has crippled the healthcare system in northern Gaza and was blocking medical teams from reaching bombed sites.

       The Civil Emergency Service announced two days ago that their operations were halted after Israel detained and wounded several of its personnel and bombed its only fire truck.

       The war in Gaza began on Oct 27, 2023, when Hamas stormed across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 Israelis and taking about 250 hostages.

       Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza, on the other hand, has left close to 43,000 Palestinians dead. REUTERS