At least 12 Palestinians were killed at dawn on Saturday in a series of Zionist occupation airstrikes targeting various areas across the Gaza Strip.
four Palestinians, including two girls and a woman, were killed, and several others wounded, when the occupation’s warplanes targeted an apartment building near the Abbas Junction west of Gaza City, the Wafa news agency reported.
Several causalities were reported following a drone strike on an apartment building near the Jabalia Junction east of Gaza City, the source said.
In southern Gaza, seven Palestinians were also killed and others wounded when a tent sheltering the Abu Hudaid family was struck in the Asdaa area northwest of Khan Younis, Wafa added.
Since the ceasefire took effect in early October, the Zionist occupation killed 524 Palestinians and wounded 1,360 others, committing 1,450 violations, according to the Gaza media office on Saturday.
In a related development, the media office said the occupation has arrested 50 Palestinians since the agreement came into effect, detaining them from areas far from the “yellow line” and from within residential neighborhoods.
Saturday’s strikes come a day before the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt is set to open in Gaza’s southernmost city. All of the territory’s border crossings have been closed since the start of the genocidal war.
Rafah’s opening, limited at first, marks the first major step of the second phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Reopening borders is among the challenging issues on the agenda for the phase now underway, which also include demilitarizing the strip and installing a new government to oversee reconstruction.
Palestinians see the Rafah crossing as a lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed by the Zionist occupation.
Still, Saturday’s strikes are a reminder that the death toll in Gaza is still rising even as the ceasefire agreement inches forward.
