2024-09-16 20:54:02
Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children, Palestinian officials said, as cited by the Associated Press.
The strike, carried out early this morning, destroyed a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central part of the enclave. Ten people were killed there, including four women and two children.
Auda Hospital, where the bodies were taken, confirmed the death toll and reported that another 13 people were injured. Hospital records show that the woman’s mother, child and siblings were killed.
In another strike against a residential building in Gaza City, six people were killed, including a woman and two children, reported the Civil Defense, whose rescue teams work under the control of Hamas.
Israel said it was only targeting armed fighters and accused Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The army rarely comments on specific strikes, in which women and children are often the victims.
The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said more than 41,000 Palestinians had been killed since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, which triggered a war with Israel. The ministry did not specify how many of them were fighters from armed groups and how many were civilians, but said that slightly more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel has reported that more than 17,000 fighters have been killed in the fighting, without providing evidence.