GAZA/JERUSALEM, April 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a UN clinic in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

An Israeli aircraft bombed a clinic affiliated with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East in the refugee camp, which shelters displaced people, WAFA said.

Dozens of others were wounded, and a fire broke out in the building, it added.

The Israeli military and internal security service Shin Bet claimed in a joint statement that the airstrike targeted Hamas militants.

According to the statement, Hamas militants were "hiding inside a command and control center that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity and served as a central meeting point" for Hamas.

Hamas' Jabalia Battalion used the compound to plan attacks against Israeli civilians and troops, according to the statement.

Also on Wednesday, at least 25 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting multiple areas in southern and central Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defense, told Xinhua.

In southern Gaza, "at least 10 members of the Abdul Bari family, including women and children, were killed by the Israeli army in Khan Younis city," Basal said, adding that the Israeli army killed five others in another attack on the city.

An Israeli airstrike targeting a greenhouse in Rafah, where a Palestinian family was taking shelter, killed three people, he said, adding that a separate airstrike on Rafah killed two others.

Residents in southern Gaza told Xinhua that "destructive missiles" were used in the attacks, causing extensive damage.

Meanwhile, local sources in southern Gaza said more than 50 families remain trapped in the Khirbet al-Adas area, north of Rafah, unable to evacuate due to a lack of transportation and high travel costs.

In central Gaza, five people were killed in Israeli bombardment targeting the Nuseirat refugee camp and Deir al-Balah, Basal said.

Rescue teams continued to search for survivors amid widespread destruction, which has become much more difficult amid ongoing airstrikes and a shortage of necessary equipment, he noted.

The attacks across Gaza came hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced a major expansion of the military offensive in the enclave, saying troops will seize additional areas in the strip to establish buffer zones.

Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18 and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the Palestinian enclave.

The renewed Israeli attacks have so far killed 1,066 Palestinians and injured 2,597 others, Gaza health authorities said Wednesday, noting that 24 dead bodies and 55 injuries arrived at Gaza hospitals over the past 24 hours.

The death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 has risen to 50,423, with 114,638 injured, the authorities said. Enditem

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