ADDS LATEST DEATH TOLL
By Ahmed Asmar, Betul Yilmaz and Rania Abu Shamala
ANKARA /ISTANBUL (AA) - At least 56 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in a series of deadly Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip as Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave entered its 600th day, despite mounting international pressure for a halt to the brutal military campaign.
Israeli forces killed five Palestinians after targeting a civilian gathering in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. A drone strike in the same town killed one Palestinian and wounded three others, while an airstrike on a house in nearby Abasan killed three more. Another resident was killed in an earlier raid on the same area.
In Khan Younis, a Palestinian was killed in the town of Al-Fukhari by an Israeli drone, and five others were killed when a civilian vehicle was struck on Al-Nafaq Street in central Gaza City.
Four more Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike north of the city, according to local reports.
Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians attempting to reach an aid distribution point in the Qizan al-Rashwan area southwest of Khan Younis, killing six and injuring several others.
In the northern Gaza Strip, four Palestinians were killed in a strike near Al-Fakhoura School in the Jabalia refugee camp.
In Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood, an Israeli quadcopter drone shot and killed one Palestinian. A child was also killed in a separate strike targeting a residential home in the same neighborhood.
Israeli fighter jets hit a home, killing nine people and injuring 12 others in the Al-Saftawi neighborhood of northern Gaza City, medics said.
Four more civilians were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, a medical source said.
Another six Palestinians lost their lives and 15 were injured in a similar airstrike on a residence in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, the source added.
Five more people were killed in two separate strikes on the Abasan and Al-Mawasi areas in the southern city of Khan Younis, medics said.
The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a devastating offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 54,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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 crimes against civilians in the enclave.