Death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to over 100 – ministry

A Palestinian boy watches smoke billowing from targets during Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza region of Khan Yunis, controlled by the Hamas movement, on May 11, 2021. – Israel launched deadly airstrikes on Gaza in response to a barrage of rockets fired by the Islamist movement Hamas amid spiraling violence sparked by unrest at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. (Photo by Mahmoud KHATAB / AFP)

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories — More than 100 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed over the past four days of military conflict with Israel, officials in the blockaded coastal enclave said Thursday.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, 103 people were killed, including 27 children and 11 women, while 580 people have wounded since Monday.

Inside Israel, seven people have been killed since Monday, including one six-year-old, after a rocket struck a family home.

Earlier Thursday, the Israeli army said its “fighter jets struck a military compound of the Hamas terror organization intelligence headquarters”.

“Dozens of Hamas operatives were present at the compound during the strike,” a statement from the army read.

Late in the day, dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza at Ashdod and Ashkelon, coastal southern Israeli cities, as well as in the vicinity of the Ben Gurion airport in central Israel.

All incoming passenger flights were diverted to Ramon airport in the south earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, AFP photographers said people were evacuating their homes in the northeastern part of the enclave ahead of possible Israeli attacks, with Hamas warning of a “heavy response” to a possible ground incursion.