More than 60 bodies recovered from eastern Gaza following Israeli offensive

More than 60 bodies were recovered from the rubble in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood of Shujaiya after a prolonged Israeli ground offensive, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported on Thursday.

Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have destroyed more than 85 percent of residential buildings in Shujaiya, rendering the area uninhabitable, WAFA said.

"Entire residential blocks have been leveled, streets obliterated, and critical infrastructure targeted throughout the area," the report said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces continued their incursion into Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and several others in Gaza City, it added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Wednesday that the Israeli troops completed their mission in the Shujaiya area, which lasted approximately two weeks.

On the last day of the operations, Israeli soldiers destroyed several underground tunnel routes and found weapons, laptops and communication equipment inside the tunnels, according to the statement.

The IDF said it conducted the operations upon intelligence reports indicating the presence of "terrorists and terrorist infrastructure" in the area, adding that it took several steps before the strike to "mitigate harm to civilians."

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 50 people and wounded 54 others across the enclave, bringing the total death toll to 38,345 and injuries to 88,295 since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in early October 2023, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.