12 Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on residential area in Gaza

Gaza, Feb 21 (IANS) At least 12 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli attack on a residential square in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The medical sources told Xinhua news agency that "the Palestinian civil defence crews transported 12 bodies of Palestinians and dozens of wounded after targeting several homes in the Nuseirat camp, which was crowded with displaced people".

"The bodies of the victims arrived in pieces at a local hospital, while the wounded were transferred to the hospital to receive treatment amid great suffering due to the running out of medicines and the limited number of medical staff present in the hospital," the sources said.

The sources added that they are facing "extreme difficulty" in dealing with the large number of victims arriving at hospitals, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Gaza-based Health Ministry announced that the number of Palestinian deaths as a result of Israeli attacks on the Strip had risen to 29,195 since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel conflict.