Gaza, Jun 23 (IANS): At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on residential houses in two areas of Gaza City, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.

"About 18 were killed and dozens of others wounded in al-Shati refugee camp after the Israeli warplanes attacked a residential square," Palestinian medical sources told Xinhua news agency on Saturday.

The medical sources noted that the number of victims was likely to increase as the civil defence teams were still trying to pull out the victims from the rubble, adding that the residential square had become "a huge amount of ruins".

Palestinian security sources said that Israeli warplanes launched several raids on the al-Shati refugee camp, destroying seven inhabited homes, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Saturday, at least 24 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed during Israeli airstrikes on houses in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood in the northeast of Gaza City, the Hamas-run government media office said in a press statement.

The Israeli army said on Saturday in a press statement that its warplanes had attacked two Hamas military infrastructure sites in Gaza City.

According to the Times of Israel, the Israeli army targeted Raed Saad, a senior commander of Hamas in Gaza. So far, there has been no official Palestinian confirmation of his death.

Saad, identified as a chief of Hamas operations, was reportedly believed to have been at Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital during an Israeli raid in March, although he was not found there at the time.

Israel launched a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a military attack on Israeli towns near the Strip, killing about 1,200 and capturing around 250 others.

The health authorities in Gaza said in a press statement that as of Thursday, the Palestinian death toll from Israeli military operations has risen to 37,431 people, with 85,653 others wounded.