Death toll rises to 31 in Israeli raids on central Gaza

Palestinians inspect the rubble after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 19, 2024. (Palestinian News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

GAZA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip while the Israeli army announced the killing of two of its soldiers in battles in the enclave.

Local sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes targeted at dawn an inhabited house for the Hassan family in the Nuseirat Palestinian refugee camp, which led to its destruction.

Medical sources told Xinhua that the Israeli raid resulted in the killing of 31 people, including children and women, and the wounding of several others with varying injuries, all of whom have been transferred to hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a press statement that two soldiers were killed in an incident in the southern Strip, while three others were injured, one of them seriously.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 35,386, and 79,366 were injured, according to Gaza health authorities on Saturday.

A Palestinian child stands on the rubble after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 19, 2024. (Palestinian News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

A Palestinian inspects the rubble after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 19, 2024. (Palestinian News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

A Palestinian stands in a destroyed building after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 19, 2024. (Palestinian News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)

Palestinians inspect the rubble after an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 19, 2024. (Palestinian News Agency/Handout via Xinhua)