GAZA/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM – The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip surpassed 43,000 on Monday, as Israeli forces continued to shell various areas across Lebanon, killing at least 2,710 people since the start of clashes between Hezbollah and Israel in October. last year.

Over the past 48 hours, the Israeli army killed 96 people and injured 277 others in Gaza, bringing the total toll to 43,020 dead and 101,110 injured since the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7, 2023, they said. indicated health authorities based in Gaza. said in a statement.

A number of victims remained trapped under the rubble and ambulances and civil defense teams were unable to reach them, the statement said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday that its troops carried out targeted raids in central and southern Gaza, killing armed militants and dismantling their infrastructure.

Earlier in the day, the IDF claimed to have apprehended around 100 militants during an operation at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said the operation was based on intelligence indicating that “terrorists had infiltrated inside the hospital” and aimed to “thwart terrorist activities and apprehend the terrorists.”

Inside the hospital, Israeli forces also found weapons, funds and intelligence documents, the statement said.

He claimed that Hamas fighters had repeatedly operated from inside hospitals in the Gaza Strip, “using them to hold hostages, carry out terrorist attacks and store weapons and explosives” throughout the war. war.

Meanwhile, in a post on social media platform the situation “extremely catastrophic”.

The director said his son was killed and 31 hospital staff were taken away or arrested, calling for a humanitarian corridor to be opened to bring in medical teams to provide critical care to the injured .

Israel carried out a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate for a Hamas rampage across Israel’s southern border on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage.

In Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported Monday that 23 people were killed and 97 others injured in the southern governorate; nine people were killed and 24 injured in Nabatieh governorate; two people were killed and another injured in the Bekaa region; four people were killed and two others injured in Baalbek-Hermel governorate.

On Monday evening, 44 people were killed and several others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbek, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.

Lebanese military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Israeli forces carried out 17 air raids in southern Lebanon and five in the east, while artillery fired 45 shells out of 20 border towns and villages. Israeli infantry, supported by Merkava tanks, advanced towards several villages in southern Lebanon, but were met with artillery and missile fire from the Islamic Resistance Hezbollah.

Hezbollah confirmed targeting Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles near Margaliot, as well as missile strikes against Israeli forces near Kafr Kila, Rab El Thalathine and al-Taybeh. A Hezbollah media video shows its forces repelling an Israeli commando trying to infiltrate al-Taybeh.

Since September 23, the Israeli army has carried out an intensive air attack against Lebanon, marking a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah. Additionally, Israel launched a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon earlier this month.

As conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon continue, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he is working to continue the Abraham Accords process and achieve peace with more Arab countries.

In a speech on the opening day of the winter session of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Netanyahu said Israel’s priority was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “Stopping Iran’s nuclear program is at the forefront of our concerns,” he said.

Netanyahu noted that his country maintains “an ongoing dialogue” with the United States, but “chooses the targets and objectives ourselves, based on our interests and considerations.”

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, normalized Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Meanwhile, the Israeli parliament on Monday passed a law banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Israel.

“As there is evidence that UNRWA and its employees participate and are involved in terrorist activities against Israel, it is proposed to establish that Israel will act to end all activities of the agency on its territory,” they said. the explanatory notes of the law.

In an article on X, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, said the vote against the agency “is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent.”

“It opposes the Charter of the United Nations and violates the obligations of the State of Israel under international law… These bills will only worsen the suffering of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, where people are going through over a year of hell,” he wrote.