By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 22 Palestinians on Tuesday, medics said, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
The violence in Gaza came as fighting intensified between Israel and the Iran-backed forces of Hezbollah across Israel’s border with Lebanon – a parallel conflict that had stoked fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.
Israeli tanks advanced in the northern and western areas of Rafah, battling fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to residents and statement published by the two Palestinian militant groups. Residents said the Israeli army blew up several homes in eastern and central areas of the city.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked the invading forces with anti-tank rockets, detonated already planted bombs and mortar fire.
Palestinian health officials said the 22 people were killed in several Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza Strip. In one of the strikes, six Palestinians were killed, including three women, in a house in Nuseirat, one of the territory’s eight historic refugee camps, they said.
There has been no comment from the Israeli military.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million have been displaced in nearly a year of warfare as Israeli air and artillery strikes have reduced much of the Palestinian enclave to rubble. More than 41,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The war, the deadliest bout in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden was determined to bring about a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas while also seeking to de-escalate tensions on Israel’s border with Lebanon, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
“He absolutely hasn’t given up,” Sullivan said in an interview with MSNBC hours before Biden was due to address the UN General Assembly for the last time as president.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Ros Russell)
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