Israeli forces on Saturday pressed ahead with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants kept firing rockets deep into Israel's heartland, pushing the death toll past 300 in almost two weeks of conflict. The death toll on Saturday morning hit 24 after Palestinian civil defense rescue teams pulled ten bodies out of the debris of a home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip as Israeli forces continued their military offensive against the Gaza Strip by air, sea, and land for the twelfth day.
The killings follow the deadliest day in the conflict so far, after Israel killed at least 63 Palestinians and injured more than 400 on the first day of their ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave. Saturday morning's deaths bring the total death toll of 12 days of Israeli military offensive in Gaza to 316 in addition to 2268 injuries, according to al-Qidra. The spokesman highlighted that Friday was the deadliest day of Israel's military aggression on Gaza with 52 Palestinians killed as of midnight.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that at least 71 children, 25 women and 17 elderly people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza as of Friday night. Since the invasion began, more than 135 rockets have been fired from Gaza, though many were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense shield, including some over the country's commercial capital Tel Aviv, causing no casualties. Israel says its forces have focused so far on seeking out tunnels Palestinian militants might use for cross-border raids and moving weaponry.One such infiltration was thwarted on Thursday: the army said it had repelled 13 Hamas gunmen after they emerged from a tunnel close to an Israeli farming community. There have been two Israeli fatalities - the soldier and a civilian, who was killed by a rocket. More than 100 rocket bursts each day at southern Israel and the heartland Tel Aviv area have sent hundreds of thousands dashing for shelters.One Israeli soldier was killed in an apparent friendly fire incident, the military said, and several other troops were wounded in the ground operations. It said some 240 targets, including 21 concealed rocket launchers and 10 tunnels, have been attacked.
In Israel itself Israeli police arrested 16 Palestinian citizens of Israeli after they took part in a rally in solidarity with Gaza in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
On Friday dozens of Palestinians were injured in Jerusalem after clashes broke out with Israeli forces at the Al-Aqsa compound in the Old City on Friday amid heightened tensions after the Israeli invasion of Gaza the day before. Dozens suffered bruises, fractures, and cuts in clashes that broke out in the holy compound as Israeli forces raided the area firing stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets, and assaulted paramedics and journalists who were forced out of the compound during the clashes.
Medics told Ma'an that more than 110 injured arrived at the Al-Aqsa clinic, a number of whom were transferred to hospitals.
Tensions have been running high in recent weeks, after Israeli forces launched a massive campaign across the West Bank in June that led to 10 deaths, 130 injuries, and more than 600 arrests, which was subsequently followed by Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, which has killed nearly 300 Palestinians in the last 11 days.
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