News - Middle East: At least 23 Palestinians have been killed in separate Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip, among them a journalist and a senior rescue service official, as the occupying regime continues its brutal war on the besieged enclave.

Local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several members of his family lost their lives after Israeli forces bombed his house in the Jabalia al-Nazla neighborhood in the north early on Sunday, Gaza health officials said.

They said that Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory’s civil emergency service, and his wife were also killed after an Israeli airstrike hit their house in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Other casualties occurred in the southern city of Khan Yunis, as the Israeli military targeted the area.  

Meanwhile, Gaza’s government media office said the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza has risen to 220 since the beginning of the genocidal war against the blockaded territory, following the death of Abu Warda, director of Barq Gaza news agency.

The media office further condemned the systematic targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli regime, saying “We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and states complicit in the crime of genocide—such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France—fully responsible for these brutal and heinous crimes.”

The media office further called on the international community and relevant media and journalistic bodies worldwide to condemn Israel’s ongoing crimes in Gaza and bring the Israeli “war criminals” to justice.

It also urged them to exert pressure to halt the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocide, protect journalists and media workers in Gaza, and end their systematic assassination.

Journalists operating in the Palestinian territory are faced with increased dangers as they report on the war amidst Israeli ground assaults and airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages, and power outages.

Israel launched the campaign of genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023. It has killed at least 54,000 Palestinians there so far, according to the health ministry of Gaza.

Israeli forces have also maintained a complete blockade on Gaza, shutting all border crossings and drastically restricting the entry of humanitarian aid, fuel, and food.

Source: Press TV