At least 47 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in southern Gaza Strip

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) — At least 47 Palestinians have been killed in the southern Gaza Strip in Israeli attacks since Saturday evening.

At least 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens others were injured in Israeli bombing of homes in the central region of the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

One of the targets of Israeli planes bombarding southern Gaza was the home of the Abu Al-Awf family in the Canada camp, west of Rafah city, causing many injuries, the agency said.

Another Palestinian was killed and four others were injured in an Israeli attack on a home of the Al-Nabris family in Khan Younis, also in the southern part of the enclave.

In a separate attack, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces at the Abu Hamid intersection in central Khan Younis late on Saturday.

Israeli forces also bombed the Ma'an area, east of Khan Younis, killing two Palestinians and the injury of others.

Also, an Israeli drone strike on Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis killed a 13-year-old boy, Amir Rami Odeh, Wafa said.

In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli planes and artillery targeted the homes of Palestinians in the town of Jabalia, local sources said, adding that Israeli forces stormed the Al-Rafi’i School, arrested several young men, and removed women by force amid heavy gunfire, according to the Palestinian agency.

Israeli planes fired dozens of smoke and phosphorus bombs at Jabalia and the Al-Jarn area, coinciding with an attempt by its ground forces to advance to the center of Jabalia.

The Israeli forces prevented ambulance crews from reaching injured Palestinians to provide the necessary treatment and transport the bodies.

Since the attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip, killing at least 20,258 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 53,688 others, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi