Israeli attacks kill 39 across Gaza

At least 39 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombings across different areas of the Gaza Strip, reported Xinhua, quoting Palestinian medical and security sources on Wednesday.

"Israeli forces committed a horrific massacre by targeting a multi-story house near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip," Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, told Xinhua.

He added that the air raid killed 30 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Mohammed Al-Asali, a resident of the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, described a "terrifying night as the Israeli army continued targeting most areas in the northern Gaza Strip, launching fire belts on residential blocks and completely destroying them."

Eyewitnesses told Xinhua that as the Israeli army maintained its assault on the northern Gaza Strip with artillery shelling, drones targeted anyone moving on the streets or attempting to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, at least two Palestinians were killed in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, after the Israeli army targeted a home during the night, according to Basal.

Basal stated that civil defense teams retrieved "at least two bodies and several wounded, while others remain trapped under the rubble," adding that the victims were taken to the Arab Baptist Hospital in the city.

In the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, seven Palestinians were killed when their house was struck by Israeli warplanes, according to medical sources at the Al-Awda Hospital in the camp.

Basal told Xinhua that "the bodies of seven Palestinians, along with some injured individuals, including women and children, were transferred to the hospital. Civil defense teams are still searching for other missing persons beneath the rubble."

According to a statement from Israel's Shin Bet security service and the military, Fehmi Salmi, a Nukhba company commander in Hamas's Zeitoun Battalion, was killed in a drone strike on the al-Falah School in Gaza City. In a separate strike, an Israeli drone in Jabalia killed Salah Dahham, the head of Hamas's Paragliding Unit.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army reported that four rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. Two rockets were intercepted, while the other two landed in open areas without causing injuries. No Palestinian faction has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas rampage through southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which approximately 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 44,805, according to a statement by Gaza-based health authorities on Wednesday.