•An Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft
An Israeli air strike on a home where displaced people had taken refuge in central Gaza killed at least 11 people today, the territory’s civil defence spokesperson told our correspondent.
Israel has intensified its offensive on the devastated Palestinian territory in recent weeks, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee, reports AFP.
“Eleven people were killed and many are missing or wounded after an Israeli airstrike targeted a house… which was sheltering displaced people north of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip,” civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
Several children were among those killed, the emergency services said, and their bodies were taken to a nearby hospital.
Over nearly two years, Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.
The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean our correspondent is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The US-backed offensive on Gaza City came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as “distorted and false”.
Large parts of Gaza have been laid to waste, and last month a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of the territory.
“We lost our children, our homes and our places,” Najia Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was killed while waiting for aid, said Wednesday.
“We became beggars and sick.”
