The Israeli military says Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have launched about 20 rockets at Israeli border communities – the heaviest attack in months.
A number of projectiles were intercepted and others landed in southern Israel, but no injuries were reported. The army said it responded with artillery fire.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said it launched the barrage in response to Israeli “crimes”.
The attack came amid five days of heavy fighting in Shejaiya, northern Gaza, and an Israeli soldier was killed in the southern area of Rafah.
Israel’s prime minister said Sunday that his forces are engaged in a “difficult battle” across the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
More than 37,900 people have been killed since then, including 23 in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
On Monday morning, sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border fence, many of which have been evacuated since the October 7 attack.
The Eshkol Regional Council later reported that 18 rockets were launched toward areas it governs, according to the Jerusalem Post. Most landed in open areas, but one fell “near the fence of Kibbutz Holit,” the report said. Another missile was intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, it added.
The Times of Israel reported that Monday’s barrage was the largest from Gaza since January, when at least 25 rockets were launched toward the town of Netivot.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the latest rocket fire came from the southern Khan Younis area and its sources were hit by their artillery.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that artillery strikes on Monday killed one civilian and wounded several others in the town of Khuzaa, southeast of the city of Khan Younis.
Israeli warplanes also attacked a street in Shejaiya, in eastern Gaza City, and an area north of the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, the report said.
Meanwhile, Hamas’ military wing reported that its fighters attacked two Israeli tanks with explosives in Shejaiya.
The IDF said in a statement that its forces had “eliminated numerous terrorists during close-quarters fighting and located large quantities of weapons” during attacks in Shejaiya. Airstrikes had killed about 20 others and destroyed weapons production and storage facilities in the area, it added.
Fighting has been raging there since Thursday, when Israeli forces re-entered the area following what the IDF described as “intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.”
Over the weekend, residents said the attack left bodies in the streets, while the IDF said two Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in northern Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said up to 80,000 people in Shejaiya and surrounding areas had been ordered by the IDF to evacuate and move south, but were pushed westwards because they could not pass through Israeli checkpoints in the Wadi Gaza area.
“The Israeli army has completely destroyed the neighborhood,” a woman from the neighboring Tuffah district told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Lifeline program.
“I fled with others as the shellfire rained down around us. We went from one area to another until we managed to escape the area. But many residents were trapped and could not leave,” she added.
“We experience hunger, fear, murder, displacement and total destruction.”
Palestinian fighters have regrouped in several northern areas that were the focus of the Israeli ground offensive during the first three months of the war.
Since early May, Rafah has taken center stage, and the IDF believes it has now compromised the capabilities of three of the four Hamas battalions in the city.
Some of the estimated 10,000 people still in the city told Reuters news agency that Israeli tanks had pushed further into western and central areas on Monday, a day after they reportedly moved within 1km of the Mediterranean coast.
The IDF, meanwhile, announced that one of its soldiers had been killed in a battle in southern Gaza on Monday.
No further details about the incident were released, but Hamas previously reported that its fighters blew up a booby-trapped house in Rafah and then lured Israeli forces inside.
In another development, the head of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was released on Monday after seven months in Israeli custody. Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya alleged that he was tortured in custody. Israel denies abusing prisoners.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that Israeli forces are operating “all over the Gaza Strip” and killing “dozens of terrorists” every day.
“This is a difficult battle that is being fought above ground, sometimes in hand-to-hand combat, and also underground,” he warned.
“We are determined to continue fighting until we achieve all of our goals: eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again, and returning our residents safely to their homes,” he added.
Sam Rose, UNRWA’s director of planning, told the BBC from the Nuseirat camp that the humanitarian situation is becoming increasingly dire for Gaza’s 2.2 million people, three-quarters of whom are displaced.
“People need water, people need health care. It’s getting hot here, it’s 35 degrees [Celsius]the stench of sewage, the lack of solid waste management facilities, the area is basically turning into a dumping ground [for rubbish],” he said.
“The fuel does not arrive in sufficient quantities through the border crossings. Without that, incubators can’t work, the wells can’t work… Doing the simplest things is a real struggle for everyone.”
