UPDATE – Gaza death toll rises to 1283

The Palestinian death toll from a devastating Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip rose to 1283, according to a Health Ministry spokesman.

“At least 54 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 1283,” Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.

He said that 170 people were also injured in Wednesday’s Israeli attacks.

According to the spokesman, at least 7170 Palestinians have also been injured in the ongoing Israeli attacks since July 7.

In one of the deadliest attacks on Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed in Israeli shelling of an UNRWA-run school in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip.

Seventeen people were also killed in two Israeli attacks in on the southern Khan Younis city on Wednesday.

Since July 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip – from air, land and sea – with devastating bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip.

Israel claims that the offensive, now in its fourth week, aims at halting rocket fire from the blockaded Palestinian territory.

At least 56 Israelis – 53 soldiers and three civilians – have been killed since the hostilities began.

Israel’s military operation, dubbed operation “Protective Edge,” is the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.

In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel’s three-week-long operation “Cast Lead.”

Report by Ola Attalah for Anadolu Agency