The Israeli military has ordered another evacuation of some residential areas in northwest Gaza where it says Palestinian militants fired rockets on the nearby Israeli town of Ashkelon.
The orders issued on Monday came after a rocket attack triggered air raid sirens in Ashkelon the day before. The military said it intercepted one projectile and another fell in the sea.
Israel ordered the evacuation of all of northern Gaza, including the territory’s largest city, in the opening weeks of the war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
Most residents heeded the orders and headed south, but up to 300,000 remained in the north, where Israel’s air and ground operations have caused widespread destruction. The north has been surrounded by Israeli forces and largely isolated since October.
Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced in the 11-month-old war, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people are crammed into tent camps along the coast with few if any public services.
Here’s the latest:
Death toll from Israeli strikes on Syria rises to 14, Syrian state media say
DAMASCUS — The number of people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to 14, with more than 40 wounded, Syrian state media said Monday morning.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Israeli strikes hit several areas in central Syria late Sunday, damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires. The initial death count reported by the Masyaf National Hospital in western Hamas province was four.
As of Monday morning SANA reported 14 killed and 43 wounded, citing hospital head Faysal Haydar. It was not clear how many of those killed and wounded were civilians and how many were militants.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported that one of the strikes targeted a scientific research center in Maysaf and other sites where “Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria.” Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups. Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria.
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