Gaza toll rises to 170

The death toll in Gaza rose to 170 Sunday after four more Palestinians, including a father and son, were killed in three separate airstrikes by Israel on southern Gaza Strip, authorities said.

More than 10 people were also injured in the three Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza Strip towns of Rafan and Khan Younis, Xinhua quoted a Gaza health ministry spokesperson as saying.

“Since the beginning of the Israeli military aggression and the airstrikes on our people in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, 170 Palestinians have been killed and 1,154 injured. More than 80 of the dead are civilians,” he said.

The spokesperson added that among the killed were 36 children and 32 women, while 350 children and 460 women were injured.

Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades and other militant groups have claimed responsibility for launching more rockets into northern, central and southern Israeli towns and cities.

The militant groups said that they fired more than 700 rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, while Israeli war jets carried out more than 1,000 air and artillery strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past seven days.

The Israeli cabinet decided Sunday to continue airstrikes on the Gaza Strip until calm is achieved, though nothing has been decided so far on a large-scale ground operation in the strip.

IANS