Israeli air strikes kill 13 including pregnant woman and child

Two separate Israeli strikes have killed at least 13 people including women and children in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.

One of the strikes hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City’s eastern Tufah neighbourhood, killing at least six people, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead.

The Israeli army claimed the strike ‘targeted a militant’ belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, but would offer no evidence or further detail.

Another seven people were killed when an Israeli strike hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis where displaced people were sheltering, according to a Nasser Hospital spokesperson.

It said the dead included two women and a child. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the blast.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said on Saturday that 11 aid trucks containing food, water and medical equipment had reached the far north of the enclave, including the urban refugee camp at Jabalia.

It is the first time any aid has reached the area since Israel’s siege of Gaza

The announcement comes days a ahead of a US deadline demanding that Israel improve aid deliveries across Gaza. Experts have said there is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in parts of northern Gaza.

Israel’s new strikes has focusing on Jabalia, a densely populated refugee camp where Israel says Hamas had regrouped. Other areas affected by the new campaign include Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, situated just north of Gaza City.

The UN estimates that tens of thousands of people remain in the area. Earlier this week, the Gaza Health Ministry said there were no ambulances or emergency crews operating north of Gaza City.

The Israeli army has struck several schools and tent camps, packed with tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli offensives and evacuation orders.

It has left 90% of Palestinians in Gaza displaced, according to UN figures.

In July, Israeli air strikes hit a girls’ school in Gaza’s central city of Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering inside. 

More than a year of Israel’s war against Palestinians in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people.