Gaza, Oct 13 (IANS): At least 18 Palestinians were killed on Sunday as Israeli forces launched attacks in the northern and central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of the Bureij refugee camp and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian security officials told Xinhua. Seven people were killed in the shelling and taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, medical sources said, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a separate incident, eight members of a single family were killed when Israeli shelling struck a residential house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, local sources reported.

Meanwhile, Gaza's Civil Defence Authority said that its teams recovered three bodies and evacuated seven others trapped in homes in the Faluja area of Jabalia.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Sunday that its forces had struck around 40 targets and killed dozens of militants during operations across the Gaza Strip in the previous 24 hours.

The ongoing Israeli offensive follows a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead and around 250 taken hostage. Gaza-based health authorities said on Sunday that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli airstrikes has reached 42,227.

Also on Sunday, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club announced the death of prisoner Mohammed Musa, 37, from Bethlehem, in Israel's Soroka Hospital.

Musa had been detained since April 2023 and was held at Rimon prison. The organisations stated that he had no prior chronic health issues and demanded an investigation into the circumstances of his death, holding Israeli authorities responsible.

On the same day, Israel released 12 Palestinian prisoners who had been detained during its ground operations in Gaza, according to Palestinian security sources.

The prisoners were released through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza. Palestinian human rights groups have reported that hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested by the Israeli army during the ongoing conflict, with their whereabouts currently unknown.