Israel says its army is continuing attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza and more than 70 Palestinians were killed in the embattled coastal area in the past 24 hours.
The Israeli air force on Friday struck some 35 targets on Friday, including operational command centres, military posts and “the infrastructure of terrorist organizations,” the military said on Saturday, claiming that dozens of enemy fighters had been killed in ground battle and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip over the past day.
The information could not initially be independently verified.
Amid the ongoing fighting, 72 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, and 144 more injured, according to the health authority in Gaza.
This brings the total number of Palestinian fatalities in the latest Gaza war to 32,142, plus 74,412 injured, according to the Hamas-controlled agency.
The numbers are currently impossible to verify though many more people are believed to be buried under the rubble, with rescue services unable to access them due to the ongoing fighting.
Israeli forces are also continuing their operation in Gaza City’s a-Shifa hospital, according to the army, where they have so far killed more than 170 fighters, questioned 800 suspects and found numerous weapons as well as terrorism infrastructure.
It also wasn’t possible to verify this claim. The Israeli army entered Gaza’s largest hospital, now largely non-operational, on Monday for a second time since the beginning of the war to target suspected Hamas fighters.