(CNN) — The Israeli army launched a new ground and air attack on central Gaza on Tuesday, as its forces intensify attacks amid a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The IDF stated on Tuesday afternoon local time that fighter jets attacked Hamas targets in the Bureij neighborhood “at the same time as ground forces operating selectively and with intelligence guidance” in the same area.
CNN cannot independently verify the IDF statement.
A CNN producer in the area said at least six bodies were taken to the local Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, along with more than 30 injured people.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in an Israeli bombing in the Bureij area, central Gaza, on June 4, 2024. Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
Among those killed were a father and his 12-year-old son when an artillery shell hit a residential building east of Al Bureij, according to the CNN producer, as well as a boy and a girl.
A woman in her 20s also died.
Witnesses say civilians began leaving the Bureij area towards the coast after military activity there intensified.
Another CNN producer reported on tank fire in recent days from the east-west Netzarim corridor that the IDF has opened through central Gaza into neighborhoods south of Gaza City. He assured that there was a ground incursion in the same neighborhoods during the last three days.
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 after the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza, killed at least 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250.
Since then, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 36,550 Palestinians and injured another 82,959 people, according to that country’s Health Ministry. CNN cannot independently confirm the figures.
Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.
