UPDATE 3 - 32 Palestinians killed as Israel launches fresh airstrikes on Gaza

ADDS NUMBER OF ISRAELI ARMY CASUALTIES, FRIENDLY FIRE ON ISRAELI TROOPS ALONG LEBANESE BORDER

By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - At least 32 Palestinians were killed early Monday in fresh Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, according to local medical sources.

Israeli warplanes struck a house in the city of Rafah south of Gaza City, leaving 19 Palestinians dead, said medical sources.

Five Palestinians were killed in another strike targeting a house in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, they added.

Four people also lost their lives in another airstrike on a house in the al-Zaatar neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli strike also targeted a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killing three people.

A girl was also killed and several people were wounded in an attack on a mosque in the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

Israeli fighter jets also staged several airstrikes in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, the Interior Ministry run by the Palestinian group Hamas said in a statement.

The Israeli army said its aircraft continued to pound the Gaza Strip in order to “devastate the capabilities” of Hamas.

A military statement said several command posts were destroyed in the attacks, including an “operational asset used by Hamas” located in a mosque in Jabaliya.

Palestinian groups in Gaza, meanwhile, fired volleys of rockets into southern Israel.

Hamas said it fired about 100 rockets toward the coastal city of Ashkelon. One person was wounded when a rocket directly struck an apartment building in the city, said the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

The Islamic Jihad group also said it fired several rockets towards Tel Aviv.

Early on Monday, Israeli troops stationed along the Lebanese border fired on a friendly unit, wounding 4 soldiers. The incident took place at an army checkpoint at an Israeli settlement near the Jalel Gharbi area.

On Saturday, Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in decades, firing thousands of rockets and sending fighters who infiltrated Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. The group said its attack was in response to Israeli violations in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem and increased settler violence.

At least 700 Israelis, including 73 Israeli soldiers, have been killed and over 2,300 others wounded in the attack, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.

Israel retaliated, with the Israeli army initiating Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas with a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 430 Palestinians and wounding at least 2,300 others.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to use all of Israel’s strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities and “take revenge for this black day.”