Gaza's civil defense agency said the toll from an Israeli strike on Gaza City on Wednesday had risen to at least 33 killed and more than 80 injured, many of them children.
The agency's spokesman, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP that "civil defense crews, paramedics, and volunteers transported at least 33 martyrs and more than 80 injured, about half of them children and some women, as a result of the Israeli air strike" in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City.
The toll from the strike makes it one of the deadliest in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed its offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on March 18, after a two-month truce.
When contacted by AFP, the Israeli army had still not responded nearly four hours after the initial announcement of the strike.
The strike in Al-Rimal took place in the afternoon, when a drone dropped a first missile, followed moments later by a second in the same neighborhood, according to Bassal.
At least 59 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territory, including 48 in Gaza City in the territory's north, according to figures provided by the civil defense.
Senior Hamas member Bassem Naim told AFP on Wednesday that "the scale and intensity of the bombing show a clear pattern -- this is not just warfare, it's a deliberate campaign of eradication."
AFP
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