Israeli airstrikes kill 3 Palestinians in Gaza Strip

By Nour Abuaisha, Ramzi Mahmud, and Ikram Kouachi

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ANKARA (AA) - At least three Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Saturday following Israeli airstrikes targeting a residential home in Gaza City and a displacement tent in Khan Younis, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense and a medical source.

In a statement, Civil Defense teams reported that two Palestinians were killed when an Israeli strike hit a family home in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.

The attack caused a fire to break out inside the home, which was later brought under control by emergency teams.

Meanwhile, a medical source told Anadolu that another Palestinian was killed in a separate Israeli strike that hit a tent sheltering displaced civilians in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The strikes came after the Israeli army warned it would launch a “powerful” offensive on eastern areas of Gaza City. Overnight, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of intense raids on those areas.

Elsewhere, heavy Israeli artillery shelling was reported in northern Rafah and continued demolitions of buildings were seen in the area. Northern parts of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in Gaza’s north also came under heavy artillery fire.

The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.