At least 20 Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Gaza

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 20 Palestinians, including several children, were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, medics said on Thursday.

Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said the bodies of 18 people were retrieved from under the rubble of three homes after Israeli strikes in Gaza City and north of the enclave.

Seven children were among the victims, he said in a statement.

Separately, a husband and his wife were killed in an Israeli strike on their home in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, a medical source said.

Artillery shelling was reported in several areas across Gaza, including the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, but no information was yet available about casualties.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued to blow up Palestinian homes in the northern towns of Beit Lahia and Jabalia by using explosive-laden robots, witnesses said.

Israel launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza on Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.

The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 45,100 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar