Gaza’s civil defense agency said Saturday that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 Palestinians overnight, including women and children, while the Israeli military said it had eliminated dozens of militants in the territory’s north.
An airstrike hit tents housing displaced Palestinians in the southern area of Khan Yunis, killing at least nine people, civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also confirmed the toll, saying 11 others were wounded in the strike and were taken to Nasser Hospital.
A second air strike killed five people and injured about 22 when “Israeli warplanes hit Fahad Al-Sabah school,” which had been turned into a shelter for “thousands of displaced people” in the Al-Tuffah district of Gaza City, Bassal said.
The dead and injured were taken to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, he added.
In recent months, the military has struck several schools-turned-shelters where Israel has said Palestinian militants are operating.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said its troops killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, where it has been conducting a sweeping air and ground operation for more than a month to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Israeli forces also killed several militants in the area of Rafah in the territory’s south, the military added.
The military is currently engaged in a two-front war, with troops fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terror groups by the United States, the U.K. and other Western countries.
“Over the past day, the IAF (air force) struck over 50 terror targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.
“Among the targets struck were military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers,” it added.
Israel’s war in Gaza broke out after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
In that attack, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
