39 Killed İn Israeli Attacks On Southern Gaza: Activist

At least 39 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing Israeli attacks in Khuza'a village in southern Gaza Strip, a human rights activist said Thursday.



"Thirty-nine Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling in the area," Yasser Abdel-Ghafour from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights told Anadolu Agency.



He said the fatalities included five children and two women.



At least 165 Palestinians have also been injured in the Israeli assault, according to the rights activist.



Since Wednesday, Israeli forces escalated its onslaught on the Khuza'a and Abassan villages in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, leaving dead and wounded under rubble, according to medics.



Medics said that Israeli shelling left dead and wounded under rubble.



According to eyewitnesses, more than 40 bodies are still under the rubble.



At least 732 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4500 others injured since Israel launched a devastating military offensive in the Gaza Strip on July 7 with the ostensible aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire.



Last week, Israel stepped up its offensive to include ground operations, sending thousands of troops into the embattled coastal enclave.



According to official Israeli figures, 32 Israelis – including 30 soldiers – have been killed since hostilities began.



Israel's operation "Protective Edge" is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated strip – home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.



In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed – the vast majority of them civilians – during Israel's three-week-long "Operation Cast Lead."



By Ola Attalah



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