Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon that killed dozens while targeting Hamas and Hezbollah militants Saturday morning.
While Israel's wars with Hamas and Hezbollah continue in Gaza and Lebanon, Qatar officials no longer will mediate a cease-fire deal on behalf of Hamas, NBC News reported. CNN and Fox News unnamed U.S. officials also confirmed the decision.
IDF airstrikes throughout much of Gaza began at dawn Saturday and killed at least 40, Al Jazeera reported.
Local officials and first-responders reported 40 Gazans killed during the airstrikes, including 24 in northern Gaza and others near Khan Younis, Beit Lahiya, Gaza City and Deir el-Balah.
The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed 14 deaths, including women and children, while IDF officials said dozens of Hamas militants were killed in northern Gaza, VOA News reported.
An airstrike killed five and wounded 22 when Israeli aircraft struck the Fahad Al-Sabah school in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah district. The casualties were taken to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital for treatment.
The IDF said its forces killed "dozens of terrorists" in northern Gaza's Jabalia area where a ground operation has been underway for more than a month to stop Hamas from regrouping in the area.
The IDF said it also killed militants in the Rafah area of southern Gaza while engaged in a two-front war with Hamas to the south and Hezbollah to the north in Lebanon.
The IDF carried out airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in Tyre in Lebanon.
"Over the past day, the [Israel Air Force] struck over 50 targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip," the IDF said in a statement.
"Among the targets were military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers," the IDF said.
The IDF targeted Hezbollah embedded its operations in residential and manufacturing centers in and near Beirut despite the resulting dangers to Lebanese citizens, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The IDF has targeted Hamas and Hezbollah militants during dozens of military actions begun Friday morning and continuing through the overnight hours and into Saturday.
Hamas recently rejected a cease-fire proposal mediated by Qatar.
Qatar officials notified Hamas, Israeli and U.S. officials regarding its decision to expel Hamas 10 days ago.
"Qatar has become increasingly frustrated with a lack of progress toward a cease-fire by both Hamas and Israel," one of the diplomats told NBC News Saturday morning.
"Hamas has been told that if this continues then Qatar cannot continue to host them."
The officials did not say whether Hamas was given a deadline.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has played a key role in mediating talks between Hamas and Israel, alongside Egypt and the U.S., since the Oct. 7 war.
Gaza rescuers say 14 killed in Israeli strikes
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Nov 9, 2024 –
Gaza's civil defence agency said on Saturday that Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight, including women and children, while the Israeli military said it had eliminated dozens of militants in the territory's north.
An air strike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern area of Khan Yunis, killing at least nine people, including children and women, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also confirmed the toll, saying 11 others were wounded in the strike and were taken to Nasser Hospital.
A second air strike killed five people, including children, and injured about 22 when "Israeli warplanes hit Fahad Al-Sabah school", which had been turned into a shelter for "thousands of displaced people" in the Al-Tuffah district of Gaza City, Bassal said.
The dead and injured were taken to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, he added.
In recent months, the military has struck several schools-turned-shelters where Israel has said Palestinian militants are operating.
UNICEF said Friday that "at least 64 attacks against schools — almost two every day — were registered in the Gaza Strip last month".
It said Gaza schools "largely serve as shelters for displaced children and families", adding that since the start of the war "more than 95 percent of schools in Gaza have been partially or completely destroyed".
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Saturday its troops killed "dozens of terrorists" in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where it has been conducting a sweeping air and ground operation for more than a month to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Israeli forces also killed several militants in the area of Rafah in the territory's south, the military added.
The military is currently engaged in a two-front war, with troops fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
"Over the past day, the IAF (air force) struck over 50 terror targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.
"Among the targets struck were military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers," it added.
Israel's war in Gaza broke out after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which included those who died and were killed in captivity.
During the attack, militants abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 43,552 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers to be reliable.
On Friday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said "this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians (in Gaza) is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law".
