Israeli Airstrikes Claim Lives of 25 Palestinians in Gaza
Click to start listening
Gaza, Dec 16 (NationPress) At least 25 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes targeting a school that was sheltering displaced individuals and a civil defense center in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.
Marwan al-Hams, an official with Gaza's health authorities, informed Xinhua that on Sunday, approximately 21 Palestinians perished in an Israeli airstrike on a school for displaced persons in Khan Younis, while many others, primarily women and children, sustained injuries.
A Xinhua photographer present at the scene reported witnessing bloodied bodies of both the deceased and wounded among the debris of the upper floor of the school, which is operated by The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
No immediate response was provided by the Israeli military regarding the attack, as reported by the Xinhua news agency.
In central Gaza, four members of the civil defense, including a journalist, lost their lives in an airstrike that targeted an emergency post situated in the middle of the Nuseirat refugee camp, sources stated.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for civil defense in Gaza, accused Israel of committing a "heinous crime" against the civil defense teams. "The victims were fulfilling their humanitarian and national duties," he told Xinhua.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate announced in a press statement that among the deceased was a journalist named Ahmed Al-Louh, who served as a photographer for Qatar's Al Jazeera TV. However, the Israeli army accused him of being a military operative for the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza.
Later in the day, the Israeli army issued a statement claiming its air force targeted a location in the Nuseirat camp used by "terrorists" to plan and execute attacks against the Israeli Defense Forces.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, retaliating for a Hamas-led assault through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities and about 250 hostages.
The Palestinian death toll arising from ongoing Israeli assaults in the Gaza Strip has escalated to 44,976, as stated by Gaza-based health authorities on Sunday.
