UPDATE - 8 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on central, southern Gaza Strip

UPDATES DEATH TOLL; CHANGES HEAD, DECK, LEDE

By Mohamed Majed and Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) — At least eight Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Friday in an Israeli airstrike targeting several areas in the central and southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza said: "Our teams retrieved four martyrs and several wounded individuals after Israeli warplanes targeted the Barbakh family's home in Khan Younis."

It added that a girl was killed and several others injured after Israeli shelling of a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza city.

The statement did not specify the number of injured or the severity of their injuries following the Israeli attack.

Medical sources at the Nasser Medical Complex told Anadolu that a Palestinian woman was killed and others were injured in Israeli shelling that targeted a house in western Khan Younis.

In the central governorate, two Palestinians were killed and others injured due to a drone strike near the Hassani mosque, southeast of the Maghazi camp, according to medical sources.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Nearly 39,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,100 injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi