By Tass

Copyright tass

CAIRO, September 16. /TASS/. More than 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others were wounded in last night’s Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, the administrative center of the Gaza Strip, and adjacent neighborhoods, Al Jazeera reported.

According to health officials, 41 people were killed in the Israeli attack, including 37 Arabs directly in Gaza City, while dozens of Palestinians were injured or are still considered missing.

So far, about 350,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the administrative center of the enclave, Sky News Arabia reported.

Earlier reports said Israel had launched “a ground offensive” to occupy Gaza City. The Trump administration “is not going to stop Israel and permits it to make its own decisions regarding the war in Gaza,” Axios reported. Sources told the news website that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington “supports the ground operation but wants to see it implemented quickly, ending as soon as possible.”

On September 8, Netanyahu announced that the Israeli army will soon launch a large-scale offensive in Gaza City, telling local residents to “leave now.” Earlier, Israel announced a large-scale offensive operation in the Palestinian enclave to defeat Hamas there. The Israeli prime minister approved military plans to defeat the radical Palestinian movement in late August.