DUBAI, September 17. /TASS/. At least 12 people were killed in the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip last night, the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen reported.

Seven people were killed in Gaza City where the Israel Defense Forces had begun a ground incursion.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that his country’s troops had launched a "powerful operation" in Gaza City, the Palestinian enclave’s administrative center. The Quds news portal close to Palestinian radicals said at least 79 people were killed on Tuesday in Gaza City alone.