'My father was 95 … what did he do?': Family mourns after Israeli airstrike hits house in Nuseirat

Israeli strikes in the northern and central Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed at least 38 Palestinians, most of them in the northern town of Beit Lahiya in the enclave, medics said.

Health officials say an Israeli airstrike on a house in Beit Lahiya killed at least 22 people, including women and children. Relatives wrote the names of the deceased on social media.

Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was hit, adding that several family members remained missing as rescue operations continued in the morning.

The Israeli army told Reuters it had launched a strike against Hamas terrorists near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is located between Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, towns in northern Gaza under a two-month Israeli siege.

It said it was still investigating the incident but clarified the number of dead people reported by the Palestinians
the medical profession and the media as “wrong” and inconsistent with the army's knowledge.

In a town near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been operating since October, health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed and wounded several people. Rescuers said many people were trapped under the rubble of the house.

A journalist, her husband and 3 children were killed

Earlier on Wednesday, at least seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics told Reuters.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service and emergency services said that nine other people were killed in three different Israeli airstrikes on two houses and a crowd in Gaza City, including journalist Eman Al-Shanti, her husband, and their three children. He was the 193rd journalist killed by Israel since the start of the war, the Palestinian Union of Journalists said.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that in separate airstrikes over the past two weeks, it had killed two Hamas armed commanders who played a key role in Israel's Oct 7, 2023 cross-border attack that sparked the war.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military said in a statement that two rockets fired from the center of the Gaza Strip entered Israel, but landed in open areas without causing any damage. It showed the ability of Gazan terrorists to continue to launch rocket attacks despite 14 months of Israeli air and military attacks.

Israeli forces have been operating in Beit Hanoun, the nearby town of Beit Lahiya, and the Jabalia refugee camp since Oct. 5, fighting Hamas terrorists who attack in those areas and preventing them from meeting.

Palestinian officials and residents accuse Israel of demolishing two towns and a refugee camp on the enclave's northern edge to create a safe zone, something Israel denies.

Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli border communities 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and abducting more than 250 people back to Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli military operation since then has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and injured dozens more. Palestinian emergency officials estimate that the bodies of 10,000 people may be trapped under the rubble, bringing the death toll to more than 50,000.