Over 30 Palestinians killed as Israel keeps pounding Gaza
Israeli forces continued to strike the Gaza Strip for the fourth day in a row on Friday, bringing the total death toll from airstrikes to 31, including six children and three women.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 31 people, including six children and three women, have been killed and 93 others, including 32 children and 17 women, have been injured in the last four days of Israeli forces air attacks, Anadolu Agency reported.
The statement came after the ministry announced the death of a Palestinian, who succumbed to his injuries sustained during an Israeli raid in northern Gaza.
Five senior members of the Islamic Jihad organization were also killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Meanwhile, armed Palestinian factions retaliated by firing rocket-propelled grenades at Israeli military sites adjacent to the Gaza Strip. According to Press TV, Palestinian resistance fighters on Friday fired rockets towards Al-Quds for the first time since Israel began its assassination of resistance commanders in the besieged Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Rocket sirens sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh and elsewhere in the hills outside Al-Quds, ending a 12-hour lull in fighting.
Israel’s national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, reported that a rocket fired from Gaza struck a residential building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, resulting in one fatality and five injuries, Anadolu Agency reported.
Regional and international powers have urged an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestine, but have been unsuccessful thus far. On Thursday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned “the barbaric military aggression” against the Gaza Strip, describing it as “a heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international law and humanitarian principles”.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of this year. At least 20 Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.