Tel Aviv/Gaza, Oct 19, (dpa/GNA) – At least 30 people were killed, including children, in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
More than 50 others were wounded in the attack on the city of Jabalia, WAFA reported early on Saturday.
The information could not be independently verified. The Israeli army did not initially comment.
Jabalia has recently experienced intense fighting. Just days prior, the Israeli military said it had eliminated several militants in the area, and destroyed a weapons depot located in a building, that had previously been used as a clinic.
The Israeli army began a new ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip on October 6, urging up to 400,000 civilians who had endured a year of war to move to the south.
However, many of the people, some of whom had already been displaced several times, ignored the call, saying the Israeli military also attacked in the so-called safe zones in the south.
The Gaza war, was triggered by the unprecedented terrorist attack on southern Israel by Palestinian extremist group Hamas and its allies, just over a year ago. Members of the militia and other gunmen, killed over 1,200 people, and abducted around 250 more into the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israel has been waging a war, in an attempt to destroy Hamas, both as a military force and political organization.
Following months of stalemate in the indirect negotiations between the two sides to agree a ceasefire, some hope that the killing of Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar in Gaza earlier this week, could result in Israel ending the war, though its leadership has indicated it is not planning to immediately do so.
The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the conflict has risen to over 42,000, according to the health authorities in Gaza.
GNA