Israel-Palestine updates: 12 killed in latest air raids on Gaza

An Israeli military spokesman has said the army is looking into reports of civilian deaths in Gaza but offered no immediate comment.

“We’re aware of some collateral and we’ll learn more as the day goes ahead,” the spokesman, who was not named in a Reuters news report, said in a news briefing.

Palestinian health ministry officials said nine of the 12 people killed were civilians. Approximately 20 people injured in the air attacks on residential buildings and other sites in Gaza were also reported to be civilians.

Tareq Selmi, a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said the Israeli attack “will not pass unpunished”.

“The bombardment will be met by bombardment and the attack will be met by an attack,” Selmi said, according to Reuters news agency.

Israeli forces have killed three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in overnight air attacks on Gaza.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad was founded in 1981 with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and other areas of what is now Israel.

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Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed, reporting from Gaza, said Israeli forces targeted a residential apartment building right “in the middle of Gaza City” and in Rafah in the southern part of the strip.

“Whenever there is targeting of residential apartments, there are always casualties [among] civilians,” El Sayed said.

Israel’s military issued instructions advising Israeli residents of communities within 40km (25 miles) of Gaza to stay close to designated bomb shelters in expectation of Palestinian rockets following the overnight air raids on Gaza that killed three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has warned that Israel will “pay the price” for the killings of three Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement members in air attacks that also killed nine civilians.

“Assassinating the leaders with a treacherous operation will not bring security to the occupier, but rather more resistance,” Haniyeh said in a statement.

The Palestinian health ministry said the wives of the three PIJ members and several of their children were killed in the air raids.

Israeli forces said that 40 aircraft and drones were involved in the attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed 12 people.

The Israeli military said that 10 sites — described as military compounds and locations for the production of weapons — were targeted in the densely-populated coastal enclave.

Palestinian health officials said that nine of the 12 people killed in the Israeli air raids were civilians.

Twenty others that were injured in the missile attacks were also civilians.

At least 12 people, including nine civilians, have been killed in Israeli raids on Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Youmna El Sayed, reporting from the Gaza Strip, said at least 20 others were also wounded in the air attacks.

All of the wounded were civilians, she said.

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has announced three of its leaders were killed in the air attacks.

The three were killed along with their wives and some of their children, the group said in a statement, which did not give details on their wives, or how many children were killed and their ages.

The deceased were identified as Jihad al-Ghannam, Khalil al-Bahtini and Tariq Izz al-Deen.

COGAT, a unit in the Israeli defence ministry that coordinates civilian affairs with Palestinian authorities, said two crossings with Gaza have been closed for entry and exit of people and goods until further notice, the Reuters news agency reported.