Israeli offensive continues for 16th day, 38 killed on Sunday

Source: Xinhua | 01-12-2009 07:57

GAZA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army continued military air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the 16th successive day, killing 38 Palestinians, and wounding 80 others, medics and witnesses said.

Palestinians mourn over the victims killed by Israeli attacks in front of the morgue at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Jan. 11, 2009. The Israeli army continued its air and ground strikes on different targets in the Gaza Strip from midnight to Sunday morning, killing 24 Palestinians, local medical sources and witnesses said. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that 38 Palestinians were killed on Sunday during a series of airstrikes and tanks shelling on dozens of targets, including houses allover the Gaza Strip.

He said that five Palestinians were killed in the most recent tank shellings on Sunday night on two houses in the Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, and on Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip, adding all were civilians.

Local Radio stations quoted witnesses as saying that earlier on Sunday evening, Israeli warplanes struck the Hamas-run ministry of culture in the center of Gaza City, and a 4-story house was also destroyed by an air-to-ground missile.

The radios, which are the only means of communication among the population, reported that Israeli airstrikes didn't stop strikes on the Gaza Strip during the daily three-hour humanitarian cessation.

The Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP) Radio station reported that the incident that made the 16th day of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip significant, was the ground incursion into the southwestern neighborhoods of Tal el-Hawa and Sheik Ejllin.