Israeli air strikes kill dozens in Gaza overnight, Palestinian sources say
Four Palestinians also reportedly killed in the occupied West Bank following pre-dawn raids by Israeli forces.
Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed dozens of people overnight, according to Palestinian medical sources and media.
At least 15 people were killed in air raids on the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, a medical source told Al Jazeera early on Friday.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that journalist Yasser Abu Namous and his mother were among those killed in the pre-dawn strikes.
At least 30 others were killed in attacks across the enclave, WAFA said.
At least 10 people were killed in a strike on a four-storey house in the al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, while eight others were killed in air raids on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, WAFA said.
Another 12 people, including a child, were killed in a Israeli strike in Rafah, WAFA said.
Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the latest casualty figures.
Four people were also killed after Israeli forces carried out a pre-dawn attack in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian sources told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, who is reporting from Ramallah, said that one of those killed was a member of armed group, the Jenin Battalion.
More than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Israel has pledged to eliminate Hamas in response to the armed group’s unprecedented October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed at least 1,405 people, mostly civilians.
The death toll from the fighting between Israel and Hamas has become a source of contention amid claims and counter-claims about the true number of casualties.
United States President Joe Biden earlier this week cast doubt over the figures, saying that he has “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using”.
Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday released a list of more than 7,000 names that was paired with government identification numbers to support its accuracy.