17 killed in Israeli action in Gaza Strip: Palestinian authorities

Tel Aviv, June 18 (IANS/DPA) At least 17 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian authorities reported on Tuesday.

Bodies had been recovered from the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip and taken to a local hospital, the state-run Wafa news agency reported.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Tuesday that it had eliminated "terrorist" cells and located large amounts of weaponry in the centre and south of the region.

It added that IDF troops were continuing operations in the Rafah area in the far south, "eliminating numerous terrorists over the past day in various close-quarters encounters."

The commander of a sniper cell of the Islamic Jihad group had been eliminated by an IDF fighter jet with the direction of IDF ground troops, it said.

The Israeli air force had attacked dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the IDF report said.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority in the region, more than 37,300 people have been killed since the start of the current war, which erupted after the October 7 attacks mounted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip.

The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified.

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