Warning: Graphic footage below
On Sunday, the Israeli military killed at least 43 Palestinians in Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as US-backed Israeli strikes continue to pound targets across the Strip.
Photos and videos coming out of Gaza show that many children were among the dead and wounded. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least nine children were killed by Israeli shelling and airstrikes on the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.
Heavy Israeli attacks also hit southern Gaza, and at least 19 Palestinians were killed by strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis. Israeli troops have expanded their ground offensive in the area to capture the territory between Khan Younis and Rafah.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Sunday that since Israel restarted its genocidal war on March 18, which it did with full US support, 490 Palestinian children have been killed. The office said in a statement that the overall death toll had reached 1,350.
“The numbers alone are sufficient to confirm the existence of a systematic and deliberate policy of killing Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the Israeli occupation army,” the statement said.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said 10 rockets were fired from Gaza, an attack Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassams Brigade, took credit for. Most projectiles were intercepted, but one landed in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. According to The Times of Israel, one man was “lightly wounded,” and several other Israelis were treated for “acute anxiety.”