Palestinian photojournalist, 7 others killed in Israeli bombings across Gaza

Gaza, Dec 14: At least eight Palestinians have been killed, including a photojournalist, in a series of Israeli raids targeting different areas in the Gaza Strip, according to official Palestinian sources.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua that photojournalist Shadi al-Salafiti and another person were killed Friday afternoon by an Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of the al-Sina'a area in Gaza City.

According to Basal, two Palestinians were also killed in the morning in an Israeli raid east of the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, while another person was killed in an Israeli shelling targeting the Miraj area north of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

At dawn, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced people in Khan Younis, according to a statement issued by the Nasser Medical Complex.

The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday that over the past day, IDF troops operating in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip dismantled an underground rocket launch site, which was directed at communities in southern Israel.

In Rafah, IDF troops located tunnel shafts killed militants, and dismantled militant infrastructure sites over the last day, it added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that the Israeli authorities released 17 detainees from the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, south of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources told Xinhua that the released detainees showed signs of extreme fatigue and signs of "physical torture and abuse."

The Israeli army has arrested hundreds of Palestinians during its ongoing ground operation in Gaza and transferred them to unknown destinations, according to Palestinian human rights organisations.

Israel has been waging a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 44,875, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Friday.