Palestinians in Gaza feel nowhere is safe

Israeli airstrikes pounded locations across the Gaza Strip early on Thursday, including parts of the south that Israel had declared safe zones, heightening fears among more than 2 million Palestinians trapped in the territory that nowhere was safe.

In the nearly two weeks since Israel began attacking in response to a devastating Hamas rampage in towns across southern Israel, airstrikes have relentlessly hit the densely populated territory. Even after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate the north and head to what it called “safe zones” in the south, strikes continued across the entire territory.

The bombardments came after Israel agreed Wednesday to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to Gaza, the first crack in a punishing 11-day siege. Many among Gaza's 2.3 million residents have cut down to one meal a day and have been left to drink dirty water amid dwindling supplies.

The announcement of a plan to bring water, food and other supplies into Gaza came as fury over the blast at Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital spread across the Middle East, and as U.S. President Joe Biden visited Israel in hopes of preventing a wider conflict in the region.

There were conflicting claims of who was behind the deadly hospital explosion. Hamas officials in Gaza blamed an Israeli airstrike, saying hundreds were killed. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was instead due to a rocket misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim.

The Associated Press has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence.

Video from the scene showed the hospital grounds strewn with torn bodies, many of them young children. Hundreds of wounded were rushed to Gaza City’s main hospital where doctors, already facing critical supply shortages, were sometimes forced to perform surgery on the floors, often without anesthesia.

More than 1 million Palestinians have fled their homes, roughly half of Gaza’s population. Many who fled Gaza City and other places in the north after Israel told them to evacuate, have crowded into U.N. schools or the homes of relatives.

Israeli strikes fell across Gaza overnight, destroying homes in both north and south.

Homes were hit in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are seeking shelter. Medical staff at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said they received at least 12 dead and 40 wounded.

Sirens wailed as emergency crews rushed to rescue survivors from one building, where many were believed trapped under the rubble of misshapen bed frames, broken furniture and cement chunks. Nearby buildings had balconies and facades blown off.

A small, soot-covered child, unconscious and dangling in the arms of a rescue worker, was taken out of one damaged building and rushed toward a waiting ambulance.

The Israeli military said it killed a top Palestinian militant in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, and hit hundreds of targets across Gaza, including tunnel shafts, intelligence infrastructure and command centers. It said it hit dozens of mortar launching posts, most of them immediately after they launched shells at Israel. Palestinians have been launching barrages of rockets at Israel since the fighting began.

Israel has said it is attacking Hamas militants wherever they may be in Gaza, and accused the group’s leaders and fighters of taking shelter among the civilian population.

The strikes left Palestinians feeling they were in constant danger.

The Musa family fled to the typically sleepy central town of Deir al-Balah and took shelter in a cousin’s three-story home near the local hospital. But at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a series of explosions, believed to be airstrikes, rocked the building, turning the family home into a mountain of rubble that they said buried some 20 women and children.

The dead body of Hiam Musa, the sister-in-law of Associated Press photojournalist Adel Hana, was recovered from the wreckage Wednesday evening, the family said. They don’t know who else is under the rubble.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Hana said. “We went to Deir al-Balah because it’s quiet, we thought we would be safe.”

The Israeli military said it was investigating.

In northern areas that Israel warned to evacuate, airstrikes also hit three residential towers in al-Zahra, the Hamas-led Interior Ministry in Gaza said, as well as homes along the border with Israel. Israel has massed troops in the area and is expected to launch a ground invasion into Gaza, though military officials say no decision has been made.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 3,478 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and more than 12,000 wounded, mostly women, children and the elderly. Another 1,300 people are believed buried under the rubble, health authorities said.