Israeli military says struck 35 sites in Gaza

Jerusalem, April 14 (IANS) The Israeli military said Monday it launched a new wave of strikes across the Gaza Strip, hitting about 35 targets, while Gaza health authorities said the death toll from renewed Israeli attacks had reached 1,613.

Among the sites hit were a weapons manufacturing facility in southern Gaza and a launch site containing rocket launchers aimed at Israeli territory, the military said in a statement.

In northern Gaza, Israeli soldiers identified an "ambush" of militants several hundred metres from their position, opened fire, and eliminated the "terrorists" in coordination with the Israeli Air Force, the military added.

It did not specify the location of the incident or the number of fatalities.

In southern Gaza's Rafah, where Israel has completed construction of a new "security zone" cutting off the city, Israeli troops destroyed a 20-metre-deep, several-hundred-metre-long tunnel route, the military said.

The tunnel had been used as "a gathering place for Hamas terrorists" and connected several tunnel routes in the area, it said.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli troops located a Hamas weapons cache, including mortars, hand grenades, and explosives, according to the statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2. It then ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the enclave.

The renewed Israeli attacks have so far killed 1,613 Palestinians and injured 4,233 others, Gaza health authorities said Monday, adding that the death toll in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 has risen to 50,983, with 116,274 injured.

Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel will soon expand its operations to most of the Gaza Strip territory.

He told Gaza residents in a message that they have to evacuate due to the expected operations.

"For those who are interested, voluntary crossing to several countries will also be possible" under Washington's plan, which Israel is "working to implement," Katz said, referring to US President Donald Trump's controversial relocation proposal for Gaza residents.

"This is the last moment to remove Hamas, release all the Israeli hostages, and bring an end to the war," Katz remarked.

--IANS

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