19 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza: Civil defence

Gaza, April 17 (IANS) At least 19 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's Civil Defence.

Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua on Wednesday that 10 people, including children and women, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the home of the Hassouna family in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood, northeast of Gaza City.

In the Jabalia area, north of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army killed three people and wounded others, Xinhua news agency reported.

Five people, including at least two children, were killed by Israeli drone strikes in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip. And a Palestinian man was killed after an Israeli aircraft targeted a tent where food is distributed to the displaced in the central city of Nuseirat, Basal said.

Palestinian security sources said that since the early hours of Wednesday, Israeli artillery shelling has continued on the eastern areas of Gaza City, the Beit Hanoun, and the Beit Lahia areas in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in a statement that its members had targeted three Israeli Merkava 4 tanks near Al-Wafa Hospital, east of Gaza City.

The Israeli army has not commented on the attacks yet.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that as part of the renewed operation in the Gaza Strip since March 18, a total of 11 senior officials from Hamas' political bureau have been killed.

"So far, as part of renewed operations, nearly 1,200 terror targets have been struck from the air by 350 fighter jets and aircraft of the IAF. More than 100 targeted eliminations have been carried out, and hundreds of terrorists and military commanders from terror organizations in the Gaza Strip have been neutralised," it added.

The health authorities in Gaza announced on Wednesday that at least 25 people were killed, and 89 others injured across Gaza in the past 24 hours.

The latest figure has brought the death toll since Israel renewed its offensive on Gaza to 1,652, and the overall death toll since the start of the war in October 2023 to 51,025.

--IANS

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