Israeli Airstrikes Kill 40 Palestinians In Gaza

At least 40 Palestinians were killed and around 100 others were injured in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the Gaza Media Office announced Thursday.

"The Israeli occupation army has committed a horrific massacre in central Gaza, where fighter jets bombed four civilian homes, resulting in the deaths of 40 martyrs and more than 100 injuries," the media office said on Telegram.

It noted that more than 90% of the victims were women and children.

The media office held "the American administration, the international community and the (Israeli) occupation fully responsible for these ongoing crimes."

It called on "the free world to immediately and urgently stop the genocidal war being waged by the occupation army against civilians, including children and women."

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas. The ensuing Israeli war has killed more than 29,410 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Nearly 70,000 people have been injured.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack while over 200 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala -