At least 17 Palestinians killed as Israel launches fresh airstrikes in Gaza

By Hosni Nedim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 17 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in fresh Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to medical sources.

Six people lost their lives and several others were injured in an Israeli strike targeting Kafr Qasim School, where thousands of displaced civilians have sheltered in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, a medical source said.

Four more people were killed and 15 others injured in another airstrike on a house in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the source added.

Several people were also injured in another Israeli strike in the same city.

An Israeli airstrike on a house killed four more people north of Rafah in the southern Gaza strip, another medical source said.

Two more people were killed in artillery shelling in the town of Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medics said.

One civilian was also killed and another injured when an Israeli drone shelled a group of civilians west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, a local source said.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 95,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi