Israel presses ahead with Gaza strikes, decries genocide label

Israel launched strikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 31 people as it presses ahead with a major offensive in the territory’s largest city, according to health officials.

- By WaFAA SHURAFA, Samy Macpy AND SAM METZ

A PALESTINIAN woman is brought to a hospital in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli airstrikes Monday killed 31.

Leading genocide scholars, meanwhile, joined other rights groups in accusing Israel of genocide, allegations it vehemently rejects.

Airstrikes and artillery shelling have echoed through Gaza City since Israel declared it a combat zone last week. On the city’s outskirts and in the Jabaliya refugee camp, residents have observed explosive-laden robots demolishing buildings.

“Another merciless night in Gaza City,” said Saeed Abu Elaish, a Jabaliya-born medic sheltering in the northwestern side of the city.

Hospitals in Gaza said at least 31 people were killed by Israeli fire on Monday, more than half of them women and children. At least 13 people were killed in Gaza City, where Israel has carried out previous large-scale raids since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel to ignite the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel says it targets only militants and blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group — now largely reduced to a guerrilla organization — operates in densely populated areas.

Double threat of war and starvation

Gaza City residents, many displaced by war multiple times, now face the twin threats of combat and hunger. The world’s leading authority on food crises said last month that it was in the throes of famine — a crisis driven by ongoing fighting and Israel's blockade, magnified by repeated mass displacement and the collapse of food production.