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At least 24 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 injured after Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza for a second day.
Six people, including four children, died on Saturday after explosions tore through the narrow Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian militant group, Hamas, said the children were killed in an Israeli blast near the Jabalya refugee camp.
Tensions between Israel and Palestine have escalated dramatically over the past two days
(EPA)
However, the Israeli military denied responsibility, claiming that a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch caused the blast.
The latest bloodshed began on Friday after Israel targeted a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander.
Its airstrikes continued throughout the night and killed several civilians, including a five-year-old girl who died along with her cousin.
At least 24 Palestinians, including six children, were killed and 203 wounded during the two days of shooting, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Palestinian militants reportedly fired back more than 400 rockets, although Israel said most of them were intercepted.
While some rockets were fired as far as the bustling capital Tel Aviv, Israel’s ambulance service confirmed there were no reports of serious injuries.
Israel has insisted it attacks weapons caches hidden in residential areas, destroying homes as a result. Its army announced it had arrested 19 more members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Saturday.
Egypt said it was engaged in intensive talks to calm the situation. Further escalation will largely depend on whether Hamas chooses to join the fighting alongside the smaller Islamic Jihad group.
Palestinian medics take an injured girl to hospital after a reported Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip,
(AFP via Getty Images)
An Egyptian intelligence delegation led by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Abdelhalik arrived in Israel on Saturday and will travel to Gaza for mediation talks, two Egyptian security sources said. They hoped to secure a day of ceasefire to hold the talks, the sources added.
“Intensive efforts have been made this afternoon and the movement has listened to mediators, but these efforts have not yet resulted in an agreement,” an Islamic Jihad official said.
Israel halted scheduled fuel shipments to Gaza shortly before it struck on Friday, crippling the region’s only power plant and cutting electricity to about eight hours a day and warning health officials that hospitals would be badly hit within days.
The border has been largely quiet since May 2021, when 11 days of fierce fighting between Israel and militants left at least 250 dead in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
UN and European Union envoys to the Middle East expressed concern over the violence and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s attacks.
Meanwhile, the United States said it supported Israel’s right to defend itself, but urged all sides to avoid further escalation.
Some 2.3 million Palestinians are huddled in the narrow coastal Gaza Strip, with Israel and Egypt severely restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave and imposing a naval blockade, citing security concerns.
Israel halted scheduled fuel shipments to Gaza shortly before it struck on Friday, crippling the region’s only power plant and cutting electricity to about eight hours a day and warning health officials that hospitals would be badly hit within days.
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