At least 54 killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza: sources

GAZA: At least 54 people, including a journalist and a Civil Defense officer, were killed on Saturday in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

In southern Gaza, an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle and a crowd receiving flour in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis, eyewitnesses said.

Rescue workers told Xinhua that medical teams retrieved the bodies of 12 people and that the injured were transferred to hospitals.

In northern Gaza, at least 40 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the home of the Al-Araj family, which was sheltering displaced people in the Tal Al-Zatar area of Beit Lahia, the Civil Defense said in a statement.

"A large number of victims are still trapped under the rubble, and it is difficult to retrieve them due to the absence of Civil Defense and medical workers," it said.

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 about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 44,382, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.

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