THE Israeli army carried out new killings today and clashed with Palestinian Hamas members in Gaza Stripwhile exchanging cross-border fire with Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

As the war in Gaza enters its tenth month tomorrow, diplomatic efforts are focused on implementing a ceasefire and the release of hostages being held in Gaza, with Israel announcing next week it will send a delegation to continue negotiations with the Qatari mediators.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented attack by the Islamist group Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, which left 1,195 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Of the 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 116 remain hostages in Gaza, of whom 42 are dead.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a large-scale military operation in the Palestinian enclave that has so far claimed the lives of 38,098 people, most of them civilians, according to figures released today by Gaza’s health ministry.

In the past 48 hours, at least 87 people have been killed in the enclave, where some 2.4 million people are under siege, in conditions described as “catastrophic” by the UN. There is a shortage of water and food, 80% of the population has been displaced and many people, including children, have died of malnutrition, according to the United Nations.

Today, rescuers said 10 people were killed, including three local journalists, in an aerial bombardment of a house in the Nuseirat settlement in the central part of the Gaza Strip. A fourth journalist was killed in Gaza City, according to the Hamas press office.

“We were sleeping when suddenly our house was bombed. Debris fell on us,” Mohammed Abu Marahil said after the attack in Nuseirat, where rescuers with the help of residents pulled bodies from the rubble.

At the same time, fighting continues in Shuzaiya, a suburb in the eastern part of Gaza City, where soldiers have been conducting a ground operation with the assistance of the air force since June 27.

The Israeli military confirmed that “terrorist members of Hamas were neutralized during fighting” in Shujaiya and spoke of “weapons and infrastructure destruction”, including tunnels, accusing “the enemy of seeking to establish a base” in the district.

Fighting is also taking place in Rafah (south), where according to the Israeli army “terrorist cells were neutralized”, “many tunnels were destroyed and weapons were seized” with the help of the air force.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) confirmed that two of its staff were killed in al-Burayj (center), without giving further details.

The international community fears an extension of the war in Lebanon, on the border with northern Israel, whenever attacks by the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah intensify.

Today, Hezbollah announced that it launched “explosive drones against a military site” in Beit Hillel, northern Israel.

Alarm sirens sounded in northern Israel, with the military speaking of “the interception of a suspicious air target”. The Israeli air force bombed “terrorist targets” in southern Lebanon, according to the same source.