Israeli Attack Kills 71 In Southern Gaza Strip, 289 Wounded

The ministry said 289 others were injured in the attack that struck the Khan Younis area. It said that many of the injured and dead were taken to nearby Nasser Hospital.

An Israeli official has confirmed that Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing, was the target of Saturday's Israeli strike, Associated Press reported.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike. The official did not have details on whether the two targets were killed.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas' Oct 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and abducted about 250.

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Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,300 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory's Health Ministry.

More than 80 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, and most are now crowded into squalid tent camps, facing widespread hunger. 

Emergency Workers Uncover Dozens Of Bodies In Gaza City

On Friday, Civil defence workers dug bodies out of collapsed buildings and pulled them off rubble-covered streets, as they collected dozens of Palestinians killed this week by an Israeli assault in a district of Gaza City.

The discovery of the bodies came after Israeli troops reportedly pulled out of parts of the Tal al-Hawa and Sanaa neighbourhoods following days of bombardment and fighting there. The Israeli military launched an incursion into the districts earlier this week to fight what it said were Hamas militants who had regrouped.

The grisly scenes of the dead underscored the horrifying cycle nine months into the Gaza war.

After invading nearly every urban area across the tiny territory since October, Israeli forces are now repeatedly re-invading parts as Hamas shifts and maintains capabilities. Palestinians are forced to flee over and over to escape the changing offensives – or to remain in place and face death. Cease-fire negotiations push ahead, nearing but never reaching a deal.

(With AP Inputs)