Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Israeli strikes killed 23 people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 16 militants and a mother and her two young daughters, in the deadliest day of fighting since Israel withdrew from the coastal strip last year.
The violence, in which Palestinians said 76 people were wounded, came as Israel was embroiled in another deadly battle on its northern border with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israeli aircraft, tanks and artillery supported bulldozers that drove into northeastern Gaza, flattening orchards and greenhouses to deprive cover to militants firing rockets into Israel, the army said.
Most of the militants killed were hit by tank fire, airstrikes and in clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza City. One militant was killed in northern Gaza by an artillery shell.
No Israeli soldiers were hurt in the fighting.
Sixteen of those killed were identified as militants by their Palestinian militant groups.
A 3-year-old girl also was killed in Gaza City, hospital officials said. Two additional men were killed in Gaza City, but it was not clear if they were militants.
In northern Gaza, a woman and her two daughters – an 8-month-old baby and a 5-year-old – were killed when an artillery shell landed on their house, hospital officials said.
Another man was shot and killed along a no-go zone near the Israeli-Gaza border, hospital officials said, adding they believe he may have been mentally handicapped.
Of the 76 wounded, 16 were in critical condition. Among the wounded was Ibrahim Al-Atla, 25, a cameraman for the Palestine Broadcasting Corp., who was hit in the back with shrapnel, said Dr. Juma Al Saqqa, a Shifa Hospital official.
Also Wednesday, Gaza militants fired 11 rockets into Israel, slightly wounding one person in the town of Sderot.
“This is a horrible situation, and we urge the international community to notice the continuing Israeli escalation in Gaza immediately,” Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat said. “I’m afraid these numbers are going to multiply if we continue to be the forgotten zone in this region.”
