The Israeli army continued military air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the 16th successive day, killing 38 Palestinians, and wounding 80 others, medics and witnesses said.

Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that 38 Palestinians were killed on Sunday during a series of airstrikes and tanks shelling on dozens of targets, including houses all over the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians mourn over the victims killed by Israeli attacks in front of the morgue at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Jan. 11, 2009. The Israeli army continued its air and ground strikes on different targets in the Gaza Strip from midnight to Sunday morning, killing 24 Palestinians, local medical sources and witnesses said. [Wissam Nassar/Xinhua]

He said that five Palestinians were killed in the most recent tank shellings on Sunday night on two houses in the Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, and on Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip, adding all were civilians.

Local Radio stations quoted witnesses as saying that earlier on Sunday evening, Israeli warplanes struck the Hamas-run ministry of culture in the center of Gaza City, and a 4-story house was also destroyed by an air-to-ground missile.

The radios, which are the only means of communication among the population, reported that Israeli airstrikes didn't stop strikes on the Gaza Strip during the daily three-hour humanitarian cessation.

Smoke rises during Israel's offensive in the northern Gaza Strip in the late afternoon January 11, 2009. [Xinhua/Reuters]

The Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP) Radio station reported that the incident that made the 16th day of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip significant, was the ground incursion into the southwestern neighborhoods of Tal el-Hawa and Sheik Ejllin.

Witnesses said that several Israeli army tanks and armored vehicles rolled about three kilometers into the two neighborhood, adding that the area witnesses a fierce and violent confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Gaza militants.

Hassanein said that at least 12 Palestinians were killed during the few-hour ground operation into the two areas of Gaza City. Witnesses said that 12 militants and two civilians were killed, and dozens were injured.

The witnesses said that one of the two civilians were killed in Tal el-Hawa neighborhood was a two-year old child and the other was 21 years old.

The PFLP Radio station reported that as the Israeli ground forces were attacking southwestern Gaza City, Israeli warplanes and tanks intensified strikes and shelling allover the entire Gaza Strip.

From overnight till Sunday morning, at least 12 were killed in separate airstrikes and tank shellings in northern Gaza Strip, eastern Gaza City and the east Khan Younis in the southern Strip, said local witnesses.

Israeli aircraft bombed over 60 Hamas targets throughout Gaza Strip overnight, including the house of Ahmed Ja'abri, the top commander of the Hamas armed wing. Ja'abri has been evacuated earlier and is believed to be hiding together with other Hamas leader.

Meanwhile, several Israeli tanks rode into densely-populated area of southern Gaza City on the beach of the Strip. Heavy clashes took place between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants. Witnesses said after the confrontation, the Israeli tanks retreated back.

Hassanein gave an updated figure of the casualties of the Palestinians since the beginning of the Israeli operation called "Cast Lead" that started in Dec. 27, saying that 901 people were killed, and 3,695 wounded.

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2009)