More than 40 killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza, report says

At least 41 people have been killed in the latest attacks carried out by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Saturday citing medical sources.

Several more people were injured in attacks on Jabalia in the north, Deir al-Balah in the centre and Rafah in the south of the sealed-off Palestinian territory, it said.

The Israeli military has so far not commented on the report.

In the far north-east of Gaza, Israeli forces blew up a large building complex located only some 3 kilometres from the Israeli city of Sderot, the Israeli military said, claiming the buildings had housed anti-tank defences, tunnels and rocket launch pads used for attacks on Israel.

Palestinians accuse Israel of trying to drive out the entire population in northern Gaza, and far-right forces in Israel have called for settlements to be established in the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads a right-wing religious government, has repeatedly rejected such accusations.

Israel has been waging war on Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and some 250 abducted to Gaza.

Much of the Gaza Strip has since been rendered uninhabitable amid the fighting and more than 45,700 people have been killed according to Palestinian estimates.

Negotiations to secure a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages have been at a stalemate for months.