The updated count from health authorities in the Hamas Islamist-run territory said six children were among those killed since the start of the “Israeli aggression” on Friday, in addition to 204 people injured.
It was not immediately clear how many children were killed in the incident in Jabalia. An AFP photographer saw six dead bodies at an area hospital, including three minors.
Israel has said it was necessary to launch a “pre-emptive” operation against Islamic Jihad, as the group was planning an imminent attack following days of tensions along the border with Gaza.
In Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, women and children were trapped under rubble following an Israeli strike, the strip’s civil defence unit said.
There was no specific confirmation of Mansour’s death, but the head of the Israeli army’s operations directorate, Oded Basiok, said in a statement that the entire “senior leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralised”.
Gaza’s health ministry said the next few hours will be “crucial and difficult”, warning it risked suspending vital services within 72 hours as a result of the lack of electricity.
Read the article in The Australian (AFP).