3 children among 9 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike in central Gaza

At least nine Palestinians, including three children and their mother, were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, a medical source said.

The fatalities occurred when an Israeli warplane fired a missile into a house in the Maghazi refugee camp, the source added.

The house was flattened in the attack, according to eyewitnesses.

Search and rescue operations are underway for survivors under the rubble.

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

More than 42,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 99,200 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.