Gaza civil defence says 16 killed in “Israel” strikes

Gaza's civil defence agency said “Israeli” strikes killed at least 16 people on Friday across the strip where “Israel” has ramped up its military offensive in recent days.

The toll from "Israeli strikes in various areas across the Gaza Strip since midnight" totalled 16 dead, agency official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.

He said there were also dozens of people wounded in the attacks, which mainly hit the centre and south of the territory.

In Gaza's north, Al-Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured "after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs" on the facility.

The “Israeli” army claimed that over the past day, its forces had attacked "military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts" in Gaza.

"In addition, the (air force) struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip," it added.

Aid began trickling into the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in more than two months, amid mounting condemnation of an “Israeli” blockade that has sparked severe shortages of food and medicine.

COGAT, the “Israeli” defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that on Thursday 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza.

The UN's World Food Programme said the following day that 15 of its trucks "were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries".

WFP executive director Cindy McCain had previously said some aid was finally reaching Gazans, "but it's moving far too slowly".