22 Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes

At least 22 Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Saturday due to Israeli airstrikes on central and southern Gaza, according to Palestinian sources, reported Xinhua.

Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes targeted a populated house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza with a number of missiles, killing nine Palestinians, including four children, and injuring 30 others.

In another Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the far south of the Gaza Strip, six Palestinians, including four children, were killed, and eight others were injured, according to medical sources.

Later, warplanes targeted a house in the "Nasir" neighborhood north of Rafah, where seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured. The wounded had been transferred to Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in the city.

Meanwhile, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media platform X that fighter jets targeted more than 25 sites in the Strip, including military buildings, weapons warehouses and underground structures.

He added that the Israeli warplanes attacked a site used to launch rocket shells toward the Ashdod area, a site for launching shells in Khan Younis, and a car carrying eight Hamas militants in the center of the sector.

Also on Saturday, the Gaza-based Health Ministry warned that residents of the coastal enclave, inhabited by more than two million people, are drinking unsafe water due to Israel's refusal to allow the entry of materials for its treatment.

Meanwhile, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, an independent non-profit organization based in Geneva, said that residents of Gaza receive much less clean water than they need, and the majority have to use contaminated water unfit for drinking.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry announced on the day that the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has risen to 34,388.

It said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 32 Palestinians and wounded 69 others during the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 34,388 and injuries to 77,437 since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.