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Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood comes under Israeli siege

Gaza City's Shejaiya neighbourhood comes under Israeli siege, Lebanon clashes intensify
MENA
14 min read
Gaza's civil defense reports three medics killed and 12 wounded by Israeli aircraft during rescue efforts, as residents flee after an attack on Shujayea.

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Palestinians are fleeing an eastern Gaza City neighbourhood that has come under heavy bombardment from the Israeli military who issued an evacuation order for the area it had previously declared clear.

The Israeli assault in the northern Gaza Strip's Shejaiya district, which witnesses and medics said caused numerous casualties, comes as fears grow of a wider regional conflagration involving Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah.

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli forces also killed three civil defence team members and injured several others while they were working in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday night.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on a visit to Washington to discuss the Gaza crisis, said Israel did not want war but warned fighting on a massive scale would send Lebanon "back to the Stone Age".

In Gaza, fighting has continued despite comments Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the "intense phase" of the war - now nearing its 10th month - was winding down.

​A brief history on Gaza's Al Shejaiya neighbourhood

​ Israel's latest operation in Shejaiya killed "dozens" of fighters in an area previously claimed to have dismantled Hamas's command structure. Israeli troops have previously faced ambushes from Hamas's armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades, making it a "deathtrap."

Tell Al-Muntar, a strategic hill, serves as the gateway to Gaza.

In December 2023, Al-Qassam killed nine Israeli troops, the highest single-day toll since the launch of the so-called "Operation Iron Swords" on Gaza. Shejaiya also saw Israel's highest death toll during 2014's "Operation Protective Edge," with 16 troops killed.

In the 2014 "Battle of Shejaiya," 67 Palestinians were killed, and hundreds were injured. Residents report frequent targeting due to its proximity to Gaza's eastern border. ​