UPDATE - 16 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

UPDATES WITH MORE DEATHS; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Hosni Nedim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - At least 16 Palestinians, including children, were killed on Friday in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City reported that an Israeli airstrike targeted the home of the Hamadeh family, killing nine Palestinians, including three children and several women. A number of others, including an infant, were also injured in the attack.

Eyewitnesses said that artillery fire hit areas west of Jabalia refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahia and Israeli forces intensified the demolition of residential areas in northern Gaza, where explosions and rising smoke could be seen from central Gaza City.

In central Gaza, Palestinian medics confirmed injuries following an airstrike on a residence in the Abu Maala neighborhood north of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Meanwhile, an Israeli naval strike on Rafah’s coastal fishing huts killed a fisherman and wounded three others, according to medical sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

Additionally, two Palestinians were killed and several were injured in Khan Younis when Israeli jets struck the Omran family’s home in the al-Tahliya neighborhood.

Later, medical sources told Anadolu that four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on Beit Lahia project in northern Gaza.

In a separate strike, Al-Awda Hospital reported that three injured people were brought in following an Israeli attack in the Tel al-Zaatar area, east of the Jabalia refugee camp.

Israel has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, 2023. The onslaught has killed more than 43,500 victims and rendered the enclave almost uninhabitable.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi.