Israeli warplanes launch fresh airstrikes on Gaza

By Nour Abu Aisha and Ramzi Mahmoud

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Israeli warplanes staged a fresh wave of airstrikes across the blockaded Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Fighter jets struck a 3-story building east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

Warplanes also carried out an airstrike on a post of Palestinian resistance factions west of Gaza City.

Raids also targeted a house in Deir Al-Balah and farmland at the Nuseirat refugee camp south of Gaza City. Israeli artillery also shelled houses east of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement that it fired a volley of rockets on the Raaim military base east of Gaza and the city of Ashkelon.

The Islamic Jihad’s military wing also said it fired a salvo of rockets into Israel and mortar shells at the Kisovim military site.

At least 219 Palestinians have been killed, including 63 children and 36 women, with 1,530 others injured, by Israeli attacks across the blockaded territory since May 10, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Twelve Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara