In first 24 hours of Israel's war on Gaza, 27 Palestinians killed, more than 200 wounded

By the second day of the Israeli offensive called “Operation Protective Edge” against the besieged Gaza Strip, at least 27 Palestinians had been killed and more than 200 wounded in Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian medical sources reported.

Medical sources and human rights monitors in Gaza said that eight children were among the 27 Palestinians killed in the Israeli airstrikes.

In one of the worst attacks against civilians, Israel targeted a residential house owned by the Hamad family in the city of Beit Hanon, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, killing six civilians from the same family and wounding several others.

Israeli airstrikes against residential buildings continue, with more than 35 civilian houses targeted so far and dozens of families, including the family of MEMO’s reporter in Gaza, receiving phone calls from the Israeli occupation army to evacuate their homes ahead of being targeted.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that 117 Palestinian rockets were fired at Israeli settlements and cities near the Gaza Strip and deep inside Israel.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that rocket alarms “sounded across the country, including in Sderot, Ashdod, Yavne, Be’er Sheva, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Rishon LeZion, Kadima-Tzoran, Ness Ziona, Southern Sharon Regional Council, Ra’anana and Herzliya.”

Hamas’s military wing Al-Qassam Brigades said it fired an R-160 rocket at Haifa, six J-80 rockets at Tel-Aviv and a number of M75 rockets at several Israeli cities. The military wing of the Islamic Jihad said it fired a Buraq 70 rocket at Haifa.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that: “Three explosions were heard in Jerusalem after Code Red sirens blared in the capital.”

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israel’s defensive system Iron Dome intercepted two rockets in the skies of Tel-Aviv.

In a separate development, four Al-Qassam fighters infiltrated the Israeli military base of Zikim, which is located to the north of the Gaza Strip. Israel said that one of its soldiers was lightly wounded in the operation and the four fighters were killed.

However, Al-Qassam claimed that seven Israelis were killed as the fighters were in contact with their leadership in Gaza during the operation. The brigades also charge that Israel delivered a doctored video showing the killing of the resistance fighters.