Massacre toll climbs to 41,965 as Israel continues Gaza assault

Gaza's civil defence agency on Tuesday said an Israeli strike killed at least 17 people at a refugee camp in the centre of the territory.

"The civil defence teams recovered 17 martyrs, including children, and several others who were wounded from the three-story home of the Abdul Hadi family, which was bombed by a missile from an (Israeli) warplane in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement.

Bassal said the bodies of those killed and the wounded were taken to Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat camp and to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the city of Deir el-Balah.

Medics at Al-Awda confirmed the toll.

Bassal earlier told AFP that several air strikes rocked central and northern parts of Gaza since the early hours of Tuesday.

Witnesses and rescuers also said Israeli military operations continued in Jabaliya, where troops launched a ground assault in recent days.

In recent months, troops have returned to several areas across the Palestinian territory where they had previously conducted operations against the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday that at least 41,965 people have been killed in the war, now in its second year.

The toll includes 56 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 97,590 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023.