Gaza Strikes Kill 12, Israeli Stabbing Leaves 2 Dead Amid Escalating War Fears

### Israeli Strikes and Palestinian Attack Escalate Tensions

Early Sunday, Israeli strikes in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including four individuals sheltering in a tent camp within a hospital complex. Concurrently, a stabbing attack by a Palestinian assailant killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb.

Tensions have escalated sharply following nearly 10 months of conflict in Gaza and the targeted killings of two senior militants in Lebanon and Iran last week. These events have sparked threats of retaliation from Iran and its allies, raising concerns about a broader regional conflict.

In the Tel Aviv suburb, a woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed, while two other men were injured. According to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant who was “neutralized.” Police are currently searching for additional suspects.

The attack involved multiple locations, with the injured found at three different sites, each about 500 meters apart, suggesting the possibility of more than one assailant.

Israel is on high alert for retaliation following the recent killings of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran. Both figures were linked to the ongoing war in Gaza, which began with Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.

In Gaza, an Israeli strike hit a tent camp for displaced people at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing four, including one woman, and injuring others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An Associated Press journalist recorded the aftermath, showing people rushing to assist the injured and retrieve bodies while trying to extinguish a fire.

The hospital in Deir al-Balah, the main medical facility in central Gaza, is sheltering thousands who fled their homes due to the conflict.

Another strike in northern Gaza flattened a house, killing at least eight people, including three children, their parents, and their grandmother, according to the Health Ministry.

On Saturday, an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City killed at least 16 people and wounded 21, the Health Ministry reported Sunday. Israel’s military, which often accuses Palestinian militants of using civilian areas for operations, claimed it struck a Hamas command center.

Israel asserts that it aims to avoid civilian casualties, though individual strike details are rarely commented on, even when they result in women and children being killed.

Since the start of the conflict, Hamas-led militants have killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taken around 250 hostages in a surprise attack on southern Israel in October.

Israel’s large-scale offensive in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least 39,550 Palestinians, with extensive airstrikes and ground operations causing significant destruction and displacing the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.

Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israel along the Lebanon border since the war began, aiming to ease the pressure on Hamas. These exchanges have intensified, raising fears of a more extensive regional conflict.

In the occupied West Bank, over 590 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the Gaza war began, mostly during Israeli raids and violent protests. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories that Palestinians seek for their future state.