ALBAWABA - Gaza residents greeted the new year amid destruction as Palestinian resistance groups launched retaliatory rocket assaults on Israeli settlements while Israeli airstrikes killed scores in Jabalia.
At least 21 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since the early hours of the morning, with 15 of those deaths occurring in northern Gaza, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera. According to the reporter for Al Jazeera, 17 people were killed in the attacks that targeted residential areas in Jabalia and the al-Bureij refugee camp.
According to the Palestinian News Agency, a separate assault in al-Bureij killed a lady and a child, while an Israeli bombing in Jabalia killed 15 people, mostly children. According to Gaza's Civil Defense, the humanitarian situation worsened when more than 1,500 tents housing displaced people were inundated by heavy rains.
Additional attacks on northern Gaza were carried out by Israeli airplanes, who also attacked a water desalination plant located on Old Gaza Street in Jabalia. Additionally, shelling was reported close to Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was recently destroyed by fire after more than 300 residents were forced removed by Israeli troops.
Hundreds of people were displaced as Israeli soldiers destroyed several residential structures in the Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia. Nearly 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli operation in northern Gaza since early October, and many more have been forced to flee to the southern regions of the territory. Israeli troops have suffered losses as a result of resistance activities; 42 soldiers have reportedly died as a result of the operations, according to official accounts.
The Qassam Brigades of Hamas responded by launching a volley of rockets toward the Netivot settlement, claiming it was retribution for what they called "Zionist massacres." One missile was intercepted by the Israeli military, while another fell in an open space.
Furthermore, Islamic Jihad's military branch, Saraya al-Quds, claimed to have detonated anti-armor explosives on an Israeli convoy near Jabalia. The organization also made public video of rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, claiming that they were retaliatory for continued Israeli breaches and assault against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
