Dozens of Palestinian casualties as Israel pounds central Gaza Strip

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) — A large number of casualties arrived Saturday at a hospital in the central Gaza Strip as Israeli forces continue their attacks targeting areas in different parts of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Medical sources told Anadolu that dozens of casualties arrived at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah due to Israeli air strikes and shelling.

Also, eyewitnesses told Anadolu that violent clashes erupted between Palestinian resistance groups and Israeli forces in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi camps, and north of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

They added that Israeli military vehicles expanded their incursion east of the city under heavy fire cover.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that "occupation aircraft launched violent missile and artillery bombardment on the Zaytoun and Tel Al-Hawa neighborhoods in Gaza City, and the Nuseirat, Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij camps in the central Gaza Strip."

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi