17 killed as Israeli strikes hit Nuseirat, Bureij refugee camps in Gaza

Israeli air attacks hit refugee camps in Central Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leaving several people killed and injured, according to local media.

An Israeli air attack on a house in Block 3 of the Bureij refugee camp has killed at least one person and wounded others. In the Nuseirat refugee camp, at least 17 people were killed and others injured in attacks from Israeli warplanes.

Local media is reporting at least 17 deaths overnight in the Nuseirat refugee camp following a night of heavy Israeli bombardment in central Gaza.

Earlier, it was reported that at least seven people had been confirmed killed in a strike on a home in Nuseirat, while five people had been confirmed killed in a separate strike.

At least 274 displaced Palestinians were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp earlier this month after the Israeli military conducted a deadly rescue operation to free four Israeli captives held there.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the country’s war cabinet, following the withdrawal of his principal rival, Benny Gantz.

The six-member war cabinet will now be replaced by a “kitchen cabinet”, which Netanyahu will be able to consult for advice on the war on Gaza.

Netanyahu had been under pressure from far-right ministers within his coalition cabinet who wanted to join the war cabinet, which could have triggered a further lurch to the extreme right of Israeli politics.

Thousands of Israelis turn out for anti-government protest

Thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Monday over the Gaza war and failure to negotiate the release of scores of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.

Protests against Netanyahu’s handling of the war against Hamas militants have gathered pace, with tens of thousands taking to the streets of Israel’s biggest city, Tel Aviv, every weekend.

But protesters travelled to Jerusalem to rally outside the Israeli parliament and Netanyahu’s residence on Monday, clashing with police and urging new elections as part of what has been dubbed a week of disturbance by activists.

“Every action that he does is in the direction of the destruction of Israel. He was responsible for what happened on October 7,” said retired civil engineer Moshe Sandarovich, 73.

“Now he is destroying everything. Even if there is war now, every day that the war goes on with him, is a worse day.”

Nine people were arrested, some of them in connection with violence that left police officers “slightly injured”, Israeli police said in a statement overnight.

Hamas seized 251 hostages on October 7, of whom Israel believes 116 remain in Gaza, including 41 who the army says are dead.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive on Gaza have killed 37,347 people, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.