TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – At least 40 Palestinians were killed and many others injured in Israeli airstrikes that targeted residential homes in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medical sources told Xinhua that Israeli warplanes launched a series of violent raids on several homes in the areas of Nuseirat, Al-Zawaida, and Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, killing dozens of people and wounding many others.

The sources added that civil defense crews were able to recover 40 bodies, while dozens remained under the rubble, noting that the dead and wounded were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir el-Balah.

The Ministry of Health, run by Hamas in Gaza, announced that the number of Palestinian deaths had risen to 28,858 since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel waged its brutal war on besieged Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out an unprecedented operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Israel has imposed a complete siege on the densely populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

MP/PR