ANKARA

The Israeli army on Friday killed 40 more Palestinians, including two children, in attacks on the Gaza Strip, detonating several residential buildings in Gaza City with explosives, according to medical sources and official media.

Israel continues its nearly two-year-long genocidal war on the enclave, seeking to reoccupy Gaza City and displace its residents.

According to witnesses and medical sources who spoke to Anadolu, Israeli strikes targeted tents of displaced families as well as gatherings of civilians in several parts of the territory.

In central Gaza, medical sources said a Palestinian was killed and others were wounded in a strike on a civilian gathering on Al-Azayza Street in Deir al-Balah.

Another Palestinian was killed and several were injured in a separate strike near Abu Srar junction in Nuseirat refugee camp.

In the same camp, the Israeli army bombed a tent housing displaced persons, killing one Palestinian and wounding others.

In southern Gaza, two Palestinian siblings, both children, were killed, and several others wounded when Israeli shelling struck a displacement tent in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis at dawn.

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that 14 more Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and shelling in several areas of the Gaza Strip.

Five bodies were brought to Al-Shifa Medical Complex, three to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, five to Al-Awda Hospital, and one to Al-Aqsa Hospital, Wafa said.

In Gaza City, the Israeli army intensified its attacks, killing 21 Palestinians.

Several people were wounded after Israeli shelling hit a tent near Al-Tawhid Mosque in Al-Shati refugee camp in the same city.

Six others, including women and children, were injured in Israeli artillery fire near Al-Sousi junction in the same camp.

Witnesses said the army used remote-controlled explosive vehicles to blow up buildings and facilities near the intelligence headquarters area in northwest Gaza City and in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of the city.

Meanwhile, in Rafah, several Palestinians waiting for aid distribution were injured by Israeli gunfire near the Shakoush area, medical sources confirmed.

Since May 27, Israel has been operating a unilateral aid distribution mechanism through the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” dubbed “death traps” by Palestinians, which is not recognized by the UN or international aid groups. Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted civilians waiting at these aid points, killing and wounding thousands.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been carrying out a genocide in Gaza, killing more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The onslaught has displaced hundreds of thousands and caused famine that has claimed the lives of at least 435, including 147 children.