At least 14 people have been killed after Israeli airstrikes across central and southern Gaza overnight, Palestinian civil defence officials have said.
One home housing 11 people, including women and children, was hit in strikes on Gaza City, while a tent housing Palestinians displaced by the war was also hit in the city of Khan Younis, the Gaza officials said.
The airstrikes come after previous deadly attacks earlier in the week – one hitting a tent camp on Tuesday, another hitting a United Nations school housing displaced people the following day.
News of the latest deaths came as friends and family members of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier, held her funeral in Turkey on Saturday.
The 26-year-old from Seattle, who held US and Turkish citizenships, was laid to rest in her hometown in Didim on the Aegean Sea, where thousands of people lined the streets with Turkish flags to pay their respects.
Image: Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. Pic: Provided by ISM from her family
Ms Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on 6 September, the Israeli military has said. An Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting said she was killed after a demonstration against Israeli settlements.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, told Sky News there would be “consequences” for her killing.
Turkey has announced its own investigation into her death.
“We are not going to leave our daughter’s blood on the ground and we demand responsibility and accountability for this murder,” Numan Kurtulmus, the speaker of Turkey’s parliament, told mourners.
Despite calls for a ceasefire, Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands.
Image: A school sheltering displaced people was hit earlier in the week. Pic: Reuters
The Israel-Hamas war began on 7 October last year, when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their attack on Israel.
They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostage after releasing most of the others in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Read more:Tunnels under bedrooms and silent streets – inside a ruined city
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Inside a Hamas tunnel under Gaza Strip
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, while about 90% of its population of 2.3 million has been displaced.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.
There have been 340 Israeli soldiers killed since the ground operation began in Gaza in late October, at least 50 of whom have been killed in accidents within Gaza – not as a result of combat with Palestinian militants, according to the Israeli military.
Source : Sky News
