3 Gazans Killed İn Fresh Israeli Strikes

Three Palestinians, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed in a series of Israeli air and artillery attacks against the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday, raising the Palestinian death toll from an ongoing Israeli offensive against the enclave to 1232.



Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency that a 60-year-old man was killed and 10 others were injured in Israeli artillery attack on Rafah town in southern Gaza. A similar attack killed an 11-year-old girl in Toffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, he said.



An Israeli airstrike, meanwhile, killed a 16-year-old girl and injured 10 others in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, he said.



The new fatalities brought up to 1232 the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza, now in its fourth week, al-Qodra said.



He noted that the death toll included 252 children, 94 women and 50 elderly Palestinians.



Some 7020 Palestinians were also injured by Israeli attacks, including 1980 children and 1175 women, he added.



Since July 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip – from air, land and sea – with devastating bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip.



Israel claims that the offensive, now in its fourth week, aims at halting rocket fire from the blockaded Palestinian territory.



At least 56 Israelis – 53 soldiers and three civilians – have been killed since the hostilities began.



Israel's military operation, dubbed operation "Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.



In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long operation "Cast Lead."



By Mustafa Haboosh



englishnews@aa.com.tr



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