Gaza City: The ongoing Israeli bombardment since dawn today has resulted in the deaths of at least 45 people in Gaza City and the northern and central Gaza Strip, in a violent military escalation that included airstrikes and large-scale ground operations.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the strikes focused on populated areas, targeting homes in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in more than 15 deaths there, in addition to other deaths in the areas of Saftawi, Zarqa, Shuja’iyya, and Tal al-Zaatar in northern Gaza, as well as Beit Lahia and Jabalia.

Medical and civil defense sources reported that a number of victims remain under the rubble, with access for ambulance crews still difficult due to the intensity of the bombing and the dangerous conditions on the ground.

Military operations have extended to include targeting tents housing displaced persons and the vicinity of hospitals, amid a stifling siege on some health facilities, especially the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, which is subject to repeated siege and shelling.