DUBAI, August 24. /TASS/. Nine people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on southern and central Gaza, the WAFA news agency reports.

According to the agency, nine people, including women and children, were killed in airstrikes on residential buildings in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern part of the enclave and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Another 15 people suffered injuries.

Al Jazeera reported earlier that five Palestinians, including a woman and two children, were killed in an attack that targeted residential buildings in the Al Amal neighborhood in Khan Yunis.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas military and political wings and free all hostages.