At least 18 killed in latest Israeli air strikes across Gaza

US says it has reattached a temporary pier to allow aid into besieged Palestinian enclave

Palestinian children search for salvageable items in the debris of a destroyed building, in Khan Younis, as war rages in Gaza. AFP

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At least 18 Palestinians were killed and scores wounded in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, Wafa news agency reported on Friday.

Medical sources said two people died and 12 were injured in an overnight strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

Several were wounded when tanks opened fire on sites in the two camps of Al Moghazi and Bureij.

A man was killed and others were injured in an air raid in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza.

Eight people died and several were wounded in an air strike on a house in Al Zeitoun district, in Gaza city.

The injured were taken to Al Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as Al Maamadani hospital, Wafa reported.

Emergency teams recovered the bodies of three children and their mother from under the rubble two days after their house was by Israeli warplanes in Nuseirat.

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, three people were killed when an Israeli army drone attacked a location in the neighborhood of Fakhari, east of the city. The three were transported to the Gaza European Hospital.

Local sources said that the Israeli military bombed buildings in Al Saudi neighbourhood, in the southern city of Rafah.

Israeli tanks also fired on eastern areas of Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip, while artillery fire has hit northern areas of the Nuseirat refugee camp.

At least 37,431 Palestinians have been killed and 85,653 injured in Israel's war on Gaza since October 7, according to the update by the enclave's Health Ministry on Thursday.

The Israeli army said on Friday that two soldiers were killed and three reserve soldiers severely wounded during fighting in central Gaza.

The latest round of bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas was sparked by an unprecedented October 7 attack by the Palestinian militants on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the Israeli army says 41 are dead.

Aid situation

In addition to the high civilian death toll, Israel's closure of Gaza's border crossings has slowed down aid deliveries, causing severe shortages of fuel, food, and water.

The US military reattached a temporary aid pier to a Gaza beach and humanitarian deliveries have resumed.

“US Central Command personnel re-anchored and re-established the temporary pier to the Gaza beach yesterday,” Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday.

“Israeli engineers provided all the necessary support to ensure the safe emplacement of the pier on the beach.”

The pier was removed to prevent damage from rough sea conditions last week.

Maj Gen Ryder said that since it was reattached overnight, more than 656 tonnes of aid were delivered to a marshalling yard in Gaza.

The pier, which cost the US at least $230 million, was meant to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza through the UN’s World Food Programme but has faced setbacks.

Israel-Lebanon tension

As air strikes on the Gaza Strip continue, tension has been flaring along the Israeli-Lebanese border, where clashes have intensified.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel against escalating tension with Lebanon, as fears of a wider regional war grew, after Hezbollah militants fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel.

During a meeting with top Israeli officials in Washington, Mr Blinken "underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation in Lebanon and reaching a diplomatic resolution that allows Israeli and Lebanese families to return to their homes," the State Department said.

The Lebanon-Israel border has witnessed almost daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel’s military, which have left more than 400 people dead in Lebanon since October 8.

Most of the fatalities have been fighters but they also include more than 80 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed over the past eight months.

Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalated following last week’s killing by Israel of Hezbollah’s most senior commander.

The group retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets towards northern Israel.