GAZA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 35 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, said Palestinian sources.
Israeli warplanes bombed a three-story residential house in Al-Darraj, east of Gaza City, according to local Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that the raid resulted in the killing of 10 people, including children and women, and wounding a number of others, all of whom were transferred to the Baptist Hospital in the city.
An Israeli airstrike at a residential house in the Sabra neighborhood south of Gaza City killed two and injured five others, Basal added.
According to a statement issued by the Kamal Adwan Hospital, at least 15 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a residential house in the town of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
The hospital administration is receiving reports and appeals from local residents to retrieve the bodies, the statement said, noting that no one has been able to reach the house due to the Israeli army's incursion into the area.
Another Israeli raid on a residential house next to the hospital killed two Palestinians and injured about eight others, the statement said.
The third floor of the hospital caught fire as a result of Israeli drones dropping bombs on it, it said.
Israel also bombed a Palestinian gathering in the Beit Lahia area, killing four and injuring 10 others, according to paramedics.
In the Al-Hasayna area, west of the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle, according to local sources.
A brief statement issued by the Al-Awda Hospital in the camp said that it received the body of one dead person and 33 injuries as a result of the raid.
Palestinian security sources said dozens of families were displaced from the area northwest of Rafah city in southern Gaza, known as "Al-Mawasi," after a limited and sudden Israeli incursion.
The sources told Xinhua that the incursion was accompanied by heavy and continuous gunfire from Israeli military vehicles and drones toward the tents of the displaced Palestinians.
These tents, made of cloth and nylon, have sheltered thousands of displaced Palestinian families for months.
The Civil Defense said in a statement that its workers recovered the body of a dead Palestinian and a number of injuries from Israeli shelling and bullets in the area.
Mayor of Rafah Ahmed Al-Sufi said there is an Israeli plan to make the city "unlivable."
According to Palestinian human rights organizations, initial data obtained from Rafah through residents' statements, satellite images and video clips published by the Israeli army showed that the city has been almost completely wiped out.
On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that its troops continue operating in the Jabalia area in northern Gaza, locating an underground tunnel shaft and killing a militant cell that had barricaded itself inside.
Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 45,059, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday. ■
