At least 47 people have been killed and many others injured in Israeli nighttime airstrikes on the center of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Friday, citing medical sources.
The attacks hit the Nuseirat refugee camp and the towns of Deir al-Balad and al-Zawaida. Residential areas were targeted, housing displaced people, according to WAFA. Many of the dead were women and children, the agency reported.
“Eyewitnesses reported that after the first attacks, residents rushed to help those affected, but were again targeted by subsequent bombings. Search and rescue operations are underway as efforts continue to locate missing persons trapped under the rubble,” WAFA reported.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said they were checking the reports. An IDF statement said operations continued in the center of the Gaza Strip
“The troops identified and eliminated a number of armed terrorists operating in the area,” the IDF wrote on X.
IDF operations also continued in Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip and in Rafah in the south. Military positions had been attacked in both areas and a number of Palestinians had been killed, the IDF said, calling them “terrorists.”
