GAZA/JERUSALEM/UNITED NATIONS - A total of 25 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in a series of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Civil Defense, updating an earlier count of 10.
The Israeli military stated the strikes were carried out in response to gunfire directed at Israeli soldiers in southern Gaza earlier that day.
Mahmoud Basal, the agency's spokesperson, said the Israeli army carried out multiple strikes from the afternoon onward, with the deadliest strike hitting a building in the Al-Zaytoun district of eastern Gaza City, near the Asqoula junction. Basal said five people, including a woman and a child, were killed. Rescue teams were still searching the rubble for survivors.
He said another strike hit a group of civilians inside the UNRWA Club west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing three people and injuring several others. Civil defense teams moved the wounded to nearby medical points. Basal said the area had been crowded at the time.
In a separate incident, an Israeli drone strike targeted civilians at the Al-Shuja'iyya junction along Salah Al-Din Street in eastern Gaza City. Basal said one person was killed and dozens were wounded. He said rescue teams struggled to reach the site because of continued aerial activity.
He also reported that an Israeli tank shell struck a house belonging to the Bolboul family on Mushtaha Street in Al-Shuja'iyya, killing one person and wounding others. Nearby homes were damaged.
In the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of southern Gaza City, 11 people were killed in an airstrike on a building, Basal added. The building had been sheltering dozens of displaced families, and the victims included women and children.
Near the Al-Shujaiya junction in eastern Gaza City, two separate strikes killed at least two people and injured 10 others. In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, at least 12 people were killed, including two children, Basal said.
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Basal warned the number of dead could rise as rescue crews work through several affected areas. He said the repeated attacks throughout the afternoon and evening have put more pressure on emergency teams operating with limited equipment and dwindling supplies.
Israel said it launched the airstrikes in response to gunfire earlier in the day at troops operating in southern Gaza. It said militants opened fire near Israeli forces in Khan Younis, an area still under Israeli control under a ceasefire that began on Oct 10. No Israeli soldiers were hurt.
At least 280 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the fragile truce, and 672 wounded, the Gaza health authorities said. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed since the conflict began two years ago, according to the authorities.
Extremely dire situation after flooding
Separately, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the Palestinians are living in an extremely dire condition four days after heavy rains inundated large swaths of the Gaza Strip.
OCHA said the situation continues despite efforts by the United Nations and its partners to reach people in need following the Friday rains.
The latest estimates show that more than 18,600 households were impacted, while thousands lost their shelters or were again displaced, according to OCHA.
"This number continues to increase as partners complete additional assessments to gauge the extent of the damage caused by the storm," the office said.
As winter draws near, OCHA said its partners working on shelter warned that the volume of items entering Gaza is insufficient to meet people's immense needs.
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The office said that since shelter supplies were allowed into Gaza in September following a six-month ban, the world body, its partners and UN member states have brought in 60,000 tents, 346,000 tarpaulins and 309,000 bedding items. Hundreds of thousands of people require urgent shelter support as winter approaches.
