CHANGES HEADLINE; UPDATES DEATH TOLL
By Safiye Karabacak, Muhammed Emin Canik and Mahmoud Barakat
ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 109 Palestinians have been killed and many others injured in Israeli airstrikes on the blockaded Gaza Strip since the humanitarian pause ended on Friday morning.
Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip, said the death toll has risen to 109, and hundreds have been injured since Friday morning when Israel resumed intensified bombings of Gaza.
Earlier on Friday, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said more than 65 people were killed, the majority of whom were “innocent civilians, including children.”
Wafa described the Israeli bombing across Gaza as being indiscriminate on residential areas.
Early on Friday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said "Within three hours after the humanitarian pause ended, the death toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks climbed to 32."
“Dozens of people, mostly women and children, were injured,” the ministry added.
The pause between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect on Nov. 24, ended on Friday morning.
Heavy gunfire and Israeli artillery shelling in the eastern Gaza Strip resumed soon after the humanitarian pause ended, according to an Anadolu correspondent on the ground.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian factions are also underway in the northern and central Gaza Strip, the correspondent also reported.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi and Ahmed Asmar