Israel's intensified attacks kill 9 more Palestinians in Gaza City

ANKARA

At least nine Palestinians were killed Saturday overnight as Israel continues its intensified offensive on Gaza City, according to media reports.

According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, the army has been conducting “extensive activity” in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City since midnight.

An Anadolu correspondent reported that the Israeli army launched at dawn a series of raids and carried out demolition operations in the Zeitoun and Sheikh Radwan neighborhoods.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that five people were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a family house in the Nuseirat camp, south of Gaza City.

Two more people were killed in an attack on a residential apartment in Al-Karama area, northwest of Gaza City, and one more when Israeli forces struck the Shawa and Hosari tower on Al-Wihda Street.

A Palestinian child was killed in an Israeli bombing at the entrance to Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, a medical source told Anadolu.

Nearly 80 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip on Friday alone, most of them in Gaza City, medical sources said.

Fierce battles, accompanied by airstrikes and heavy artillery fire, took place in Gaza City's outer neighborhoods as Israel attempts to occupy the city, Israeli media reported late Friday.

Reports circulated on social media suggest security incidents in Gaza that resulted in the death of Israeli soldiers, though official sources have not confirmed the reports.

Israel's current attacks are part of Operation Gideon 2, approved by Defense Minister Israel Katz on Aug. 21, to occupy Gaza City. The operation continues with large-scale attacks that began two weeks ago in the Zeitoun neighborhood, extending to Sabra.

Israel has declared the area a "dangerous combat zone" while intensifying bombardments since early Thursday.

Israel has killed more than 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.