Some 120 killed in Gaza; W Bank gunman wounds 4

At least 120 people have been killed in Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip since Thursday night, according to Palestinian reports on Friday.

Palestinian medics told dpa that about 25 people were killed in northern Gaza, with an additional 20 fatalities reported in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central region.

Civil defence sources also reported 75 deaths in Beit Lahia, a town in northern Gaza. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians and cannot be independently verified.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), when contacted, stated that it needed the precise geographic coordinates of the attacks to comment further. Such details are rarely available due to the widespread destruction.

The Gaza conflict began on October 7 last year when attackers from the Palestinian militant Islamist movement Hamas and other extremist groups based in Gaza carried out massacres in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostage.

At least 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.

West Bank gunman injures four IDF soldiers

In the West Bank, a gunman opened fire on a bus at the Gitti Avisar junction near an Israeli settlement, lightly injuring four IDF soldiers and causing damage, the army said.

The IDF said it “eliminated the terrorist at the scene,” while Hamas’ military arm said the attacker was a Hamas member. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah reported that a Palestinian man was dead.

Palestinians have been carrying out more and more attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank for some time. At the same time, there has been a sharp increase in violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.