UPDATES DEATH TOLL; CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE
By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Over 20 Palestinians were killed and injured on Friday in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting houses and civilian gatherings across the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza reported that two fatalities and multiple injuries occurred following an Israeli strike on a house in the Mufti area, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Witnesses also confirmed the death of one Palestinian and injuries to another in an Israeli attack west of Rafah in southern Gaza. In a separate incident, a Palestinian was killed, and others were injured during an attack on a civilian gathering in the Zawaida area of central Gaza.
Israeli artillery also shelled Palestinian homes in the eastern part of the Al-Bureij refugee camp. Ongoing military operations by the Israeli army in Rafah have included the demolition of residential blocks in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, with explosions and smoke reported from the area.
In Gaza City, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense Service in Gaza, reported the recovery of five bodies along with eight injured following an Israeli airstrike that hit a house in Al-Shawa Square in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
A medical source from the Baptist Hospital informed Anadolu that "eleven casualties arrived at the hospital early Friday morning when Israel bombed the Al-Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City and a group of citizens in the city."
In the southern Gaza Strip, a medical source informed Anadolu that "an Israeli airstrike hit a tent for displaced persons near the Medecins Sans Frontieres facility west of Khan Younis, killing four Palestinians, including a woman and three children."
The attacks come amid crucial cease-fire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, aimed at reaching an agreement between Israel and Hamas. Hamas has refused to participate in these talks, demanding that Tel Aviv adhere to agreements made in July, which were initially accepted by Hamas and supported by US President Joe Biden, according to Israeli media.
Despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation for its continued offensive in Gaza, which has been ongoing since October following an attack by Hamas. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.
Over 10 months into the Israeli war, Gaza remains devastated, with severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine. Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered an immediate halt to its military operations in Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara