The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) hammered yesterday Saturday Gaza Stripkilling at least 39 Palestinians, according to health officials in the blockaded Palestinian enclave, while tanks were pushed into western and northern Rafah.

Among the dead are the journalist Mohammed Abu Yasser, his wife and two children. They were killed by an Israeli strike inside their home in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The Hamas government says Abu Yasser’s death brings to 161 the number of Palestinian media workers killed by Israeli fire since the outbreak of war on October 7.

Just before midnight, an Israeli airstrike on a camp where displaced people had taken refuge killed at least ten people, doctors and Hamas representatives said.

Another three people were killed and eight wounded in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat camp (center), medics said. Earlier yesterday, an Israeli rocket hit a high-rise building in the same camp, injuring several, including two Palestinian journalists, rescue workers said.

In Rafa, where the Israel says it wants to dismantle the last ranks of Hamas’s military arm, residents reported that tanks were pushed into the city’s northern districts and seized a hill in the western part after a fierce exchange of fire with Palestinian militants.

An IDF spokesman said a military force was continuing operations in Rafah, where in the previous 24 hours it had killed many gunmen in the Tell al-Sultan area, in the western part of the city. It also said Israeli forces had hit infrastructure used by Palestinian militants in Deir al-Bala, in the central Gaza Strip, claiming the militants were using civilians as “human shields” in their launch pad, which it has denied. repeatedly by Hamas.

So far, efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, brokered by Qatar-Egypt and supported by the US, have not borne fruit. Israel and Hamas blame each other for the stalemate.

Israel’s leadership has vowed to wipe out Hamas after the unprecedented attack on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and led to the kidnapping of more than 250 others, according to an Israeli count. At least 38,919 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas.

On Tuesday, Israel claimed it had eliminated nearly half of the top brass of Hamas’ military wing and killed or captured about 14,000 fighters since the war began. According to the IDF’s official tally, 326 Israeli soldiers have been killed during operations in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas does not release figures on the losses of its fighters, while it claims that the Israeli army exaggerates its reports to create impressions.