CAIRO, May 16. / TASS /. Over 170 Palestinians have been killed and about 1,200 have been injured in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since Monday, the Samaa News portal reported on Sunday citing the Health Ministry of the coastal enclave.
"The death toll in this area surged to 174 people, including 47 children and 29 women. Another 1,200 people received various wounds," the health ministry stated, noting that it expected an increase in the number of casualties in the coming hours.
Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra reported that some 19 Palestinians had been killed in intense raids since midnight Sunday alone. The youngest victim is a one-year-old baby, while the oldest aged 85. Nearly 40 people have been injured. People still continue removing the debris as a result of the bombing. Earlier, five children were rescued alive from the house’s ruins.
The Israeli army and Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip have been exchanging missile strikes since May 10, following the outbreak of violence near the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, sparked by Israeli court order to confiscate homes from Arab families. According to the latest data, some ten people were killed on the Israeli side. Since Monday, the Gaza radicals have fired at Israel about 2,900 missiles, 1,150 of which have been intercepted.