Israel conducts ground, airstrikes on southern Gaza, casualties reported

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Several Israeli military vehicles and tanks entered several neighborhoods in southern Gaza City early Thursday morning and launched attacks, which were also backed up by airstrikes on civilian homes, resulting in casualties among Palestinian residents.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, the Israeli soldiers' incursion was backed up by heavy airstrikes on the neighborhoods of Tal al-Hawa, Al-Sabra, and Al-Zaytoun, displacing residents whose homes were targeted.

Israeli tanks advanced in several areas of Tal al-Hawa and Al-Zaytoun and launched heavy shelling of residential areas and roads.

Health authorities in Gaza have yet to confirm the number of people killed and injured in Israeli ground and airstrikes.

The attack on Gaza City coincides with Israel's ongoing attack on eastern Rafah areas in the southern Gaza Strip, which began on Tuesday.

The Israeli army on Tuesday started its invasion of the eastern area of Rafah, storming and occupying the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, closing Gaza's only gateway to the outside world.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack that killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,404 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.