GAZA/JERUSALEM, July 9 – At least 33 Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling and gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian sources said, while the Israeli army said it struck over 100 targets throughout the Gaza Strip.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense Authority in Gaza, told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes and drones launched dozens of raids on various areas of the Gaza Strip since the early hours of morning, targeting residential homes and tents housing displaced persons.
Basal said that 10 people, including two children, were killed and about 30 others injured when Israeli aircraft targeted the home of the Jouda family in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Also in the city, one person was killed, and five others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a gathering of Palestinians in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood.
He added that 10 people were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a tent housing displaced persons from the Shaaban family in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, he added.
In central Gaza, four persons were killed, and another injured from separate Israeli strikes, according to Basal.
The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis reported in a statement that it had received the bodies of eight people and several injuries. It stated that they were attacked by Israeli army gunfire while waiting for food in front of the U.S.-backed aid distribution center north of Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that IDF troops, guided by intelligence, continue to operate against the “terrorist organizations” in the Gaza Strip.
“Over the past day, in cooperation with ground troops, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) struck over 100 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, bobby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, underground tunnels, as well as additional terrorist infrastructure sites,” it added.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces intensified their assault on Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the military said, following the deaths of five soldiers in an explosion involving improvised explosive devices in the area.
In a statement, the military said that the Givati Brigade combat team had joined the 99th Division in operations aimed at encircling Beit Hanoun. “The forces are operating to eliminate terrorists and to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and Hamas’ military capabilities in the area,” it said.
On Monday, five soldiers were killed and two others severely injured when explosive devices were detonated during a raid in Beit Hanoun, in one of the deadliest incidents for Israeli forces since the beginning of the offensive.
Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 7,118 Palestinians have been killed and 25,368 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the conflict began in October 2023 to 57,680, with a total of 137,409 people injured, according to health authorities in Gaza on Wednesday.
XINHUA, 9.7.2025
