22 killed in Israeli raid on central Gaza Strip

Gaza, Feb 24 (IANS) An Israeli airstrike on a house in the central Gaza Strip has reportedly killed at least 22 Palestinians and wounded others.

The house in Deir el-Balah was sheltering displaced people when it was hit by the Israeli attack on Friday. The dead and injured, mostly children, were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city, Xinhua news agency quoted Palestinian security and medical sources as saying.

Civil defence crews were searching for survivors under the rubble of the house amid reports of missing people, according to the sources.

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday that the Palestinian death toll in the coastal enclave has reached 29,514 since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October last year.