24 killed in Israeli air strikes Saturday morning as toll rises to 316 | Maan News Agency
Published today (updated) 19/07/2014 11:14
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GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The death toll on Saturday morning hit 24 after Palestinian civil defense rescue teams pulled ten bodies out of the debris of a home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as Israeli forces continued their military offensive against the Gaza Strip by air, sea, and land for the twelfth day.
The killings follow the deadliest day in the conflict so far, after Israel killed at least 63 Palestinians and injured more than 400 on the first day of their ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave.
Spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza Ashraf al-Qidra said on Saturday that Israeli forces had “committed a massacre against Palestinian civilians” in the Khan Younis district in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, killing eight.
He identified the victims as 20-year-old Yahya Bassam al-Serri, Muhammad Bassam al-Serri, 17, Mahmoud Ridha Salihiyya, 56, Mustafa Ridha Salihiyya, 21, Wasim Ridha Salihiyya, 15, Muhammad Mustafa Salihiyya, 22, Ibrahim Jamal Kamal Nasr, 13, and Khalid Nasr .
Twenty people were injured in the same attack including some seriously injured.
On Saturday morning, Israeli forces bombed two houses, killing a child named Muhammad Ziad al-Ruhhal and injuring dozens more.
Muhammad Abu Zaanouna , meanwhile, was killed during a strike on Abraj al-Mukhabarat in Gaza City, which also injured five others.
Al-Qidra also said that 27-year-old Raed Walid Laqan was killed in Khan Younis by an Israeli attack on a home belonging to the Tartouri family.
Shortly after that, medical sources announced the death of Khalid al-Qarra of wounds he sustained earlier on Saturday.
Israeli forces also killed 26-year-old Iyad Ismail al-Ruqab in the Bani Suheila village in the Khan Younis district.
Amjad Salim Shaath , 15 succumbed to wounds he sustained in Moraj neighborhood in Khan Younis. Two of his brothers, Ahmad and Muhammad , were killed in the same Israeli attack.
In addition, 30-year-old Said Ali Issa was killed in Juhor Addik neighborhood in the central Gaza Strip near al-Bureij refugee camp.
34-year-old Ahmad Mahmoud Hasan Aziz was killed by an Israeli missile on his home in Abraj al-Nada in the northern Gaza Strip overnight as well.
Saturday morning’s deaths bring the total death toll of 12 days of Israeli military offensive in Gaza to 314 in addition to 2268 injuries, according to al-Qidra.