During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 63 Palestinians and wounded 45 others, said the ministry in a statement.

According to the Palestinian News Agency, the Israeli army intensively bombarded the Nuseirat refugee camp and surrounding areas in the central Gaza Strip from Wednesday night, resulting in the deaths of at least five people and injuring a large number of others.

Israeli forces have bombed homes, schools and mosques among other places, and the country's ground forces have taken up positions in the northern part of the Nusayrat refugee camp, said the news agency on Thursday.

In a statement issued on the same day, the Israeli army said that it had conducted a military operation in central Gaza on Wednesday night based on intelligence information, with the goal of destroying the relevant infrastructure.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Thursday that the Israeli forces had attacked multiple military installations of Hamas in the central Gaza Strip between the evening of Wednesday and the early morning of Thursday, and the Israeli Navy carried out a number of targeted strikes along the central coastline of Gaza to assist ground forces in their operations.

In a recent airstrike, Israeli forces killed a major fundraiser of Hamas’ military activities in Rafah, who, according to the Israeli forces, had transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hamas last December, said the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on Thursday.

There has been no response from Hamas up to now.

In addition, a total of seven people, including the sons and grandchildren of 61-year-old Ismail Haniyeh, Chairman of the Hamas' Political Bureau, were killed in the Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Three of Haniyeh's sons, as well as his three granddaughters and a grandson, were killed by the bombing in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said Hamas.

The IDF and Shin Bet issued a joint statement on Wednesday confirming that the Israeli airstrike killed three of Haniyeh's sons, but did not confirm that four of his grandchildren were killed in the airstrike.

The Israeli side claimed that the three sons of Haniyeh were militants of Hamas.

In a later interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera Arabic, Haniyeh said that the Israeli airstrike against his family was in retaliation and an act that disregarded any norms or laws. He stressed that it is an illusion for the enemy to think that attacking his sons at a critical time in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations will force Hamas to change its position.

Israel's Public Broadcasting Corporation quoted anonymous Israeli government officials as saying that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Galant had any prior knowledge of the airstrike, which could exert a negative impact on the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks.

SHOTLIST

Khan Younis, Gaza Strip - April 9, 2024
1. Various of caravans moving through destroyed neighborhoods;

FILE: Rafah City, Gaza Strip - 2024
2. Various of tents, displaced people;

Rafah City, Gaza Strip - Recent
3. Various of people fetching water;

Gaza Strip - April 1, 2024
4. Various of destroyed buildings, people in yard of hospital;

Gaza City, Gaza Strip - April 7, 2024
5. Various of destroyed buildings, charred interior of building.

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