Israel kills more than 100 people in overnight attacks on Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY, Palestine

More than 100 Palestinians were killed and many others injured in Israel's overnight air and land attacks in various parts of the Gaza Strip, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Sunday, as Israel’s war on the besieged Palestinian enclave entered its 100th day.

“The bodies of 50 civilians were pulled out from the rubble following the bombardment of a three-story residential building in the densely populated Al-Daraj neighborhood in the heart of Gaza City,” the news agency said.

“The building housed families of Al-Shobaki, Al-Zoukh, Hassouna, and Al-Qasim,” it added.

The majority of those killed and injured were transported to Al-Shifa Medical Complex and Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city, it added.

In a separate attack, five Palestinians were killed, and ten others sustained injuries due to artillery shelling targeting the Sabra and Al-Zeitoun neighborhoods in the city, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israel’s artillery and navy also carried out attacks on the homes of Palestinians living in the Tal Al-Hawa and Sheikh Ajleen areas, southwest of Gaza City.

In the central Gaza Strip, three bodies were pulled out from the rubble after “their home was hit with missiles in the Al-Sawarha area, along with six more fatalities retrieved from the Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij refugee camps,” the news agency said.

In Khan Younis, more than 30 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed in an Israeli bombing targeting their houses.

At least 23 people were killed in air strikes on two houses near the Egyptian border and on a vehicle carrying mostly displaced passengers.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group which Tel Aviv claims killed 1,200 people in Israel.

At least 23,843 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,317 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi