Israeli warplanes destroy 6-story building in Gaza

By Halime Afra Aksoy

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Israeli warplanes destroyed a six-story building in the Gaza Strip on early Tuesday.

The building in the Rimal neighborhood in western Gaza was located near a group of schools belonging to the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Assistance Agency and Islamic University of Gaza.

No casualties were reported in the attack.

The total number of people killed in the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip has risen to 212, including 61 children, 35 women, and 16 elderly people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.

Some 1,400 people have also been injured in the attacks, the ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli military has staged airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since May 10, leaving behind a massive trail of destruction across the seaside territory.

Ten Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

The 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 in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.