Israel strikes 15 targets in Gaza overnight

The Israeli army announced today that it targeted 15 sites in the Gaza Strip overnight.

In the fiercest night of attacks since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israeli forces destroyed a residential tower and commercial complex and a tower block which contained dozens of press offices, institutions, businesses and residential apartments.

Twenty people were injured and dozens of families were displaced following the attacks.

On its Twitter account, the army said it struck two schools because they had been used to fire rockets on Israel.

It said one of the schools was used last week to fire a rocket that had killed a four-year-old Israeli boy.

Since July 7 Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from Palestinian territory.

At least 2,133 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and nearly 11,000 others injured in the relentless Israeli attacks, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Thousands of homes have also been destroyed.

Over the same period, 64 Israeli troops were killed in Gaza combat while four civilians were killed in rocket attacks on Israel, according to Israeli figures.

The Palestinian death toll has surpassed the combined total fatalities from past two major Israeli assaults in Gaza.