By Nour Abu Aisha
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – At least 40 Palestinians were killed and injured in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to local authorities.
The strike targeted a house near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza’s government media office said in a statement.
According to the statement, the house attack occurred in an area designated by the Israeli army as a “safe zone.”
“This proves that there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip as claimed by the Israeli occupation,” it added.
Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 23,357 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 59,410 others, according to local health authorities. Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas offensive.
About 85% of Gazans have been displaced, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio