Israel killed 118 Palestinians on Thursday, mostly civilians

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli air and artillery raids on the Gaza Strip on Thursday killed 118 Palestinians and injured 631 others, Anadolu news agency reported.

Most of the casualties are women and children, the health ministry spokesperson, Dr Ashraf Al-Qudra, told Anadolu.

Thursday’s toll raises the number of Palestinian casualties since the start of the Israeli onslaught last 7 July to more than 800 fatalities and 5,150 injuries.

The fatalities include at least 190 children, 95 women, and 47 elderly people, while those injured include 1,561 children, 1,012 women and 203 elderly.

According to Rami Abdou, the chairperson of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, Israel completely destroyed at least 49 homes on Thursday, while partially destroying 477 other homes when shelling adjacent areas.

Israeli raids on adjacent buildings hit at least three mosques, while the Mohamed Al-Dorra Hospital in central Gaza was damaged by Israeli rockets fired nearby.

In total, Israel fired at least 900 strikes against Gaza on Thursday, Abdou said.

The Israeli offensive has led to the complete destruction of 1,675 Palestinian homes and the partial destruction of 21,890 others, the ministry of housing said.

On the Israeli side, at least 32 soldiers and two civilians have been killed, while 435 have been wounded, most of them were reportedly cases of “panic”.

Hamas says it killed 68 soldiers and is holding one as hostage.

Over 1.8 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel since Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.