15 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured on Thursday evening in Israeli airstrikes targeting two residential houses in Gaza City, reported Xinhua, quoting official Palestinian sources.

Mahmoud Basal, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesman in Gaza, told Xinhua that 13 people were killed and 40 others were injured as a result of an Israeli shelling that targeted a house for displaced people in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City.

Basal added that a second Israeli shelling later targeted a house in the Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City, killing at least two people and wounding more than 20 others, while seven people remain trapped under the rubble of the destroyed house.

"Rescue teams are continuing to search for injured people and bodies under the rubble," Basal added.

No immediate comment has been issued by the Israeli military regarding the attacks.

Israel has been conducting 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 about 250 were taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,399, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military commander has been killed during combat in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said on Thursday.

Amit Levi, 35, a squad commander in a patrol battalion of Israel's elite "Arrows of Fire" infantry and paratroop brigade, "fell during combat in central Gaza," the army said in a statement.

Israel's state-owned Kan TV reported that Levi was killed by Palestinian militant fire in central Gaza's "Netzarim Corridor," which is now controlled by the army. The army troops have established new bases in the area.

Levi's death marked the 822nd Israeli soldier killed since the start of Israel's wars on multiple fronts last October.