GAZA CITY, Palestine 

An Israeli airstrike targeted the Palestinian side of the Karm Abu Salem commercial crossing on Thursday that killed its director. 

A Palestinian medical source told Anadolu that the airstrike on the crossing killed three Palestinians, including the crossing's director Bassam Ghaben.

Israeli authorities approved on Dec. 15, the reopening of the Karm Abu Salem crossing, also known as the Kerem Shalom crossing, as a second line of entry for aid trucks into Gaza along with the Rafah crossing.

The Karm Abu Salem crossing is the only functioning commercial crossing into Gaza, through which construction materials, goods, fuel and foodstuffs are taken. But as of Oct. 7, the Israeli army closed the crossing.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 52,586 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while nearly 130 hostages remain in captivity.  

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar