ISTANBUL 

At least 44 Palestinians were killed and others wounded on Wednesday in a series of fresh Israeli airstrikes across multiple areas of the Gaza Strip, according to witnesses and medical sources. 

The Israeli army shelled several homes in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing five Palestinians and injuring others. Some people are still missing under the rubble. 

On Al-Rasheed Street, south of the city, four people, including a woman and a child, were killed in an Israeli strike targeting displaced civilians. 

Seven people were killed and others injured when Israeli warplanes struck a home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City. 

Eleven more Palestinians were killed and several others wounded, including seven civil defense officers, in a separate strike that hit Al-Falah School in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood in the southeastern part of the same city. The school was sheltering displaced families. 

In the Al-Rimal neighborhood in the west, two people were killed and others wounded in a strike on a home. 

Two others lost their lives to Israeli fire that targeted a civilian gathering near a mosque in the Al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. 

One more Palestinian was killed and others were injured when the Israeli army shelled Al-Nafaq area, north of the city. 

Israeli forces also struck a water truck in central Gaza City, resulting in the death of five people and injuring several others. 

Meanwhile, Israeli forces set fire to buildings near the Islamic University in southwestern Gaza City, causing extensive damage, witnesses said. 

In the central Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp. Another person was killed and several others were injured in Al-Bureij camp after a house was targeted. 

Four more people, including children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent for displaced civilians in Deir al-Balah.

Israel’s government approved a plan on Aug. 8, proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to gradually reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, home to about 1 million Palestinians. The military then launched a large-scale offensive on the city, destroying homes, towers, property, and tents for the displaced, bombing hospitals, and carrying out ground incursions.

Israel has killed over 66,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable and led to a famine.

Efforts are underway for a ceasefire and a broader peace deal to rebuild Gaza under a 20-point plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump this week.