Israel murders 40 Palestinians in latest Gaza airstrikes

CAIRO: (Reuters) – Israeli forces on Thursday murdered 40 Palestinians in latest round of airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza strip.

Israeli airstrikes hit a cluster of houses in central Gaza’s Al-Bureij camp, killing at least 15 people, and the nearby Al-Nuseirat camp, killed four, medics said. Nuseirat and Bureij are among the densely populated enclave’s eight historic camps and seen by Israel as strongholds of Hamas.

Israeli aircraft also bombed a house in the heart of Gaza City in the north, killing five Palestinians, while another airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed one person and wounded others, according to medics.

Later on Thursday, 15 Palestinians were killed and 30 injured in Israeli bombings of two schools east of Gaza City, the territory’s Civil Emergency Service said in a statement.

Footage circulated on social media showed casualties being brought to a hospital on donkey carts.

MORE BURIALS IN GAZA

On Thursday dozens of Palestinians rushed into Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to bid farewell to slain relatives before carrying them away for burials.

Reuters footage showed relatives moving out the bodies of their loved ones in plastic bags with names written on them, and holding special prayers before the funerals.

Residents said dozens of families had begun to leave their homes and head west towards Al-Mawasi, a humanitarian-designated area but one that is overcrowded by displaced families from around the enclave.

On Thursday, the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a U.S.-based, non-governmental humanitarian agency, said that a Palestinian staff member, Nadi Sallout, had been killed while apparently off duty on Wednesday near Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. The WCK said it was seeking further details.