28 Palestinians including children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said.
Another four people were killed in strikes near a petrol station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites.
People inspect the wreckage of a petrol station destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on Saturday (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
The military did not respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251.
They still hold 50 hostages, fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's offensive has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.
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