Medical sources said three citizens were killed and others injured in the strikes in the Nuwairi area, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, WAFA news agency reported.

Another five were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Tabat Zare area, east of Rafah city, by an occupation drone.

Meanwhile, six Palestinians were killed by an Israeli artillery shelling that targeted citizens near the Abu Sharkh roundabout, west of Jabalia camp, WAFA added.

Israeli vehicles also fired shells and gunfire at citizens' homes in Jabalia camp and the areas of Al-Saftawi, Al-Tawam, and Al-Sudaniya, northwest of Gaza.

Three others were killed after an Israeli drone targeted the market street in the Beit Lahia project, bringing to eight the number of Palestinians killed in the area since dawn Thursday.

Expanding assaults
 

The Israeli military has expanded its month-old ground offensive in northern Gaza to a town that has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war, AP reported.

The army said in a statement Thursday that “troops started to operate” in the area of Beit Lahiya after intelligence claimed the presence of resistance fighters there.

The town in the northwestern corner of Gaza was among the first targets of the ground invasion launched over a year ago. The northern third of the territory has been encircled by Israeli forces since then.

Israel launched another major offensive in nearby Jabalia in early October. It has sharply restricted the amount of aid entering northern Gaza and ordered a full evacuation.

Tens of thousands have fled to nearby Gaza City in the latest mass displacement of the war.