CAIRO: Israel continued relentless aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing dozens of Palestinians, as its aggression raged around Gaza City’s main Al Shifa hospital, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said.
Palestinian health officials said two Israeli strikes on the Al-Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people, while an Israeli air strike on a house in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed eight people.
Gaza’s government media office said at least 10 policemen, tasked with securing aid to the displaced in northern Gaza, were among those killed in Al-Shejaia.
The Israeli military said its forces continued operations in around Gaza City’s Al Shifa complex “while mitigating harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment”, adding that over the past day it killed a number of gunmen and located weapons and military infrastructure.
Al Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the war, had been one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in north Gaza before the latest fighting. It had also been housing displaced civilians.
Israeli airstrikes hit northeast Lebanon killing two Hezbollah fighters, security sources say
The Israeli statement said its forces conducted raids in central and southern areas including Khan Younis and Al-Karara, where troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen before they killed them and located weapons and rockets.
Hamas said its fighters targeted Israeli forces near to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the city’s two hospitals blockaded by Israeli soldiers for several days.
In the far south of the Strip, Israel continued its bombardment in Rafah, the Palestinians’ last refuge where over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were sheltering. An air strike on a house killed 12 Palestinians late on Thursday.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military aggression in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, with 71 killed in the last 24 hours, according to health authorities in the territory.
Thousands more dead are believed to be buried under rubble and more than 80% of Gazans have been displaced, many at risk of famine.
Israeli air strike in West Bank kills three Palestinian fighters