UPDATE - At least 21 killed as Israel intensifies deadly onslaught in northern Gaza

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS CHANGES

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - At least 21 Palestinians, including three children, were killed on Monday as Israel intensified its deadly offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Ten people lost their lives and over 40 others were injured when Israeli forces fired artillery shells at civilians who gathered to receive flour near a food distribution center in the Jabalia refugee camp, a medical source said.

Five more people were killed and several others injured in a drone strike near Birket Abu Rashid in Jabalia, while another person was killed in an airstrike on a house in al-Houja in Jabalia, another source said.

Three children were also killed, and several others injured in Israeli shelling targeting a group of civilians in Safi area west of Jabalia, the source added.

Two Palestinians were also killed and seven others wounded when Israeli forces shelled a group of civilians in Jabalia Nazla in northern Gaza, a medical source said.

The Palestinian Civil Defense Agency said its medics transferred 13 injured people following a drone strike on a school in Jabalia.

Casualties were also reported following an airstrike near Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in central Jabalia.

Residents reported the blowing up of dozens of homes by Israeli forces in Jabalia and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army launched a military operation in northern Gaza on Oct. 6 amid a tight siege on the area, claiming that the offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

Palestinians dispute the Israeli claim, saying the deadly attack aims to force them to leave the area once and for all.

Ten days into the onslaught, more than 300 people have been killed amid a tight siege imposed by the Israeli army on the area, according to Palestinian authorities.

The Israeli army has erected barricades to prevent Palestinians from reaching Gaza City and force them to flee south via Salah al-Din Road, the route Israel designated for safe passage from northern Gaza, witnesses said.

Dead bodies scattered across the streets and under the rubble in many areas in northern Gaza, as ambulances and civil defense teams were unable to reach the area, they added.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

More than 42,200 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 98,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

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

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul