GAZA CITY, Palestine
Eight Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 43, according to medical sources.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid in the center of the Gaza City.
Two more people were killed in an Israeli attack north of the Gaza Strip, and two others in the southern city of Khan Younis, the witnesses said.
The new fatalities bring to 43 the number of Palestinians killed and 296 others injured in Israeli airstrikes across the seaside territory, according to the latest figures by the Health Ministry.
Five Israelis have also been killed and 45 others injured in Palestinian rocket fire.
Tensions have been running high since last week after an Israeli court ordered the evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
Rocket fire :
The military wing of Palestinian group Islamic Jihad said Wednesday that it has targeted Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities with 100 more rockets in response to Israeli attacks on civilian settlements in Gaza.
“We launched a powerful attack on the enemy at 5 a.m. this morning in retaliation for attacks against civilian settlements and civilians,” Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement.
It said the cities of Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Beersheba, and Sderot were targeted.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said on Twitter that over 1,050 rockets were fired from Gaza Strip into Israel in the last 38 hours, adding that most of them were intercepted by their air defense system.
The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of their offensive on the Gaza Strip has risen to 35, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. At least 220 others have been injured.
Five Israelis have also been killed and 45 others injured in Palestinian rocket attacks.
Tensions have been running high since last week after an Israeli court ordered the evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East JERUSALEM-AA