CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE; UPDATES DEATH TOLL; ADDS DETAILS
By Hosni Nedim
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Eighteen Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed and others injured on Saturday in Israeli airstrikes across various parts of besieged Gaza.
According to medical sources, an airstrike near the Ahmad Shawqi School in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood killed three people and injured several others.
Eight more Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the Al-Karama area, northwest of Gaza City, according to medical sources.
In northern Gaza, a young girl was killed in an airstrike on Beit Lahia, the same sources confirmed.
Eyewitnesses reported heavy artillery and aerial bombardment targeting the vicinity of Kuwait Square in southeastern Gaza City and residential areas in Beit Lahia.
They added that the Israeli army carried out building demolitions in Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp, with massive explosions shaking the area.
Six Palestinians were also killed by Israeli airstrikes on the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to medical sources.
East of Khan Younis, tanks and artillery reportedly fired indiscriminately, while in central Gaza, Israeli warplanes bombarded areas southeast of the Maghazi refugee camp.
Israel in October 2023 launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has since killed more than 44,600 people, mostly women and children.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara