Overnight Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 18 people, including children, a day after 33 were killed at a United Nations-run school sheltering displaced Palestinian families, health officials said Friday.
Strikes hit the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps and Deir al-Balah and Zawaiyda towns, they said. Four children and one woman were among those killed as well as the mayor of the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to hospital records.
Israel’s army said Friday it was continuing operations in parts of Central Gaza. It said its troops had killed dozens of militants, located tunnel shafts and destroyed infrastructure in the area.
The strikes came a day after at least 33 people were killed at a U.N.-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp which Israel said was being used as a Hamas compound, without providing evidence.
International pressure has been mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war against Hamas. Spain’s foreign minister has announced it would ask a United Nations court for permission to join South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel strongly denies the accusation.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed by eight months of Israeli bombardments and ground offensives in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians who are facing widespread hunger. United Nations agencies say over 1 million in Gaza could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. Around 80 hostages captured on Oct. 7 are believed to still be alive in Gaza, alongside the remains of 43 others.
Currently:
— Women and children of Gaza are killed less frequently as war’s toll rises, news agencies data analysis finds
— How news agencies analyzed Gaza Health Ministry ’s death toll data.
— Israeli strike kills at least 33 people at a Gaza school the military claims was being used by Hamas.
— Spain applies to join South Africa’s case at top the U.N. court accusing Israel of genocide.
— A social media effort to draw attention to Rafah surges.
— Israeli settlers in the West Bank were hit with international sanctions. It only emboldened them.
— Yemen’s Houthi rebels unveil solid-fuel ‘Palestine’ missile that resembles Iranian hypersonic.
Follow news agencies’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Palestinian health officials say at least 18 people were killed, including children, in Israeli airstrikes overnight across Central Gaza.
Strikes hit the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps and Deir al-Balah and Zawaiyda towns, they said Friday. The bodies were taken to the al-Aqsa hospital where an media journalist counted them.
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