More than 40 people killed or missing in strikes on central Gaza
Forty-two people have been killed or left missing after two strikes in central Gaza on Saturday, according to the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office.
The Director of the Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabtah, told CNN that the strikes had occurred at Al Shati camp and in the nearby Al Tuffah neighborhood.
The Civil Defense Directorate said 19 bodies had been retrieved after the strike in Al Tuffah, where more than 35 people were injured.
It said that a number of people remained under the rubble after Israeli aircraft targeted a house near the Batsh cemetery in the Tuffah, which is east of Gaza City.
The other strike was against a residential block in Al Shati, also near Gaza City.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in a brief statement Saturday, said that IDF fighter jets had struck “Hamas military infrastructure” sites in the area of Gaza City.
The IDF did not specify where the strikes had taken place. CNN is seeking more details.
It comes after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at least 22 people were killed in a strike that hit civilians sheltering in southern Gaza on Friday.
The strike hit the tents of displaced people in the Palestinian town of Mawasi, parts of which have been identified by the Israeli military as a humanitarian zone.
The IDF is reviewing the incident but said initial inquiries found “no indication” its military was responsible.
Israel has been intensifying its operation in nearby Rafah, where it launched an offensive last month as part of its campaign to dismantle Hamas in Gaza. A Gazan official said Israel’s military was pushing deeper into Rafah and was nearing the coast.
The total number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since October 7 now stands at 37,551, with 85,911 injuries, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7, which killed around 1,200 people.
Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed to this story.
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