At least 35 people have been killed, and dozens of others were wounded in an Israeli attack on a residential block in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, medical sources said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said it expected the death toll from Wednesday’s attack in northern Gaza to rise as civil defence teams and residents dug frantically to locate dozens of missing residents believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The Israeli military said the raid targeted a senior Hamas fighter, but did not give his name, claiming that it had taken several steps to reduce harm to civilians.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a statement that medical teams at the Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus have been treating “14 gunshot injuries from the occupation, including two in critical condition and seven in moderate condition.”
Before the ministry’s statement, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced that its teams had transferred six people with gunshot wounds to the hospital. It provided field treatment to 50 cases of suffocation and five cases of beating.
Among the gunshot victims were four children aged between 15 and 16, with two suffering from live ammunition wounds to the lower back and foot and two others injured by rubber bullets in the hand and foot, the statement said.
Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said its crews transported a 14-year-old boy from the camp to a hospital after he was struck in the face by a tear gas canister.
Two journalists suffered suffocation from inhaling tear gas fired by soldiers at them while covering the incursion, an Anadolu correspondent reported, citing witnesses.
At dawn, a large Israeli force with soldiers and armored vehicles stormed the camp, searching homes and converting some into military outposts.
They added that soldiers forced families to flee their homes and leave the camp under duress.
The Israeli army has continued a deadly offensive in the northern West Bank since January, killing scores of Palestinians and displacing thousands.
Tensions have been high in the West Bank, where at least 947 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
