Gaza rescuers say children among 11 killed in Israeli air strikes
Gaza's civil defense agency reported that Israeli air strikes in the early hours of Wednesday killed at least 11 people, including women and children.
Israel resumed its aerial and ground offensive across Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted hostilities in the territory.
A pre-dawn air strike in Gaza City killed 10 people, including several women and children, according to civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
He said the strike targeted the home belonging to the Hassouna family in the Al-Tuffa neighborhood of Gaza City.
"Our teams transferred 10 martyrs and several wounded to Al-Shifa hospital after the Hassouna family's home was targeted," Bassal said.
In a separate attack, a child was killed in the southern city of Khan Yunis, rescue teams said.
Top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly stated that military pressure is the only way to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated that Israel would continue to "relentlessly strike Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure" in Gaza.
"If Hamas continues to refuse (to release hostages), operations will intensify and move to the next stage," Katz said in a statement, without specifying what the next stage would entail.
Also on Wednesday, the Israeli military announced it had recently killed a militant involved in a 2014 attack that resulted in the deaths of five soldiers.
Mahmud Ibrahim Abu Hisirah was reportedly part of group of militants that infiltrated Israel through a tunnel in July 2014 and killed five soldiers, the military said.
In recent years, he had served as a close aide to Ezzedine Haddad, a senior militant from Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military added.
Since Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza in mid-March, at least 1,630 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's military assault since then has killed at least 51,000 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry.
Source: Agence France Presse
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