Gaza City

 Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip with stepped-up bombardment and artillery fire overnight into Saturday, knocking out communications and creating a near-blackout of information by largely cutting off the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people from contact with the outside world.

As the army stated, infantry units, armored and other units with the support of drones and combat helicopters participated in the raid, for the second night in a row, near the neighborhood of Shejaiya in the eastern part of Gaza City.
Artillery and airstrikes were carried out on Hamas targets, including anti-tank guided missile launch sites and command centers.

Hamas claims that almost 50 hostages died during the Israeli bombing of Gaza, but this information has not been officially confirmed.
The Israel Defense Forces said the military has so far informed the families of 224 hostages that their members are being held in the Gaza Strip.

Media: An Israeli reconnaissance drone crashed in a Gaza settlement

Israel and Gaza traded heavy fire on Friday but Egyptian mediators launched a new bid to end days of fighting that has killed dozens, all but one of them Palestinian.

The violence has been met with international calls for de-escalation, with the European Union pushing for an "immediate comprehensive ceasefire".

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Aug. 6 and a Palestinian militant group retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire, in the territory's worst escalation of violence since a war last year.

Israel has said it was forced to launch a "pre-emptive" operation against Islamic Jihad, insisting the group was planning an imminent attack following days of tensions along the Gaza border.

Bulldozers digging for an Egyptian-funded housing project in the Gaza Strip unearthed the ruins of a tomb dating back to the Roman era, Hamas authorities said on Jan. 31.

A new animal clinic has opened in the occupied West Bank, part of a growing tendency among Palestinians to raise and pamper pets.

Veterinarian Ahmed Al-Amad's "Royal Care Vet Clinic", in the city of Nablus, is one of the few facilities in the Palestinian Territories offering grooming services for cats, dogs and other animals, and boarding while their owners travel.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza were reported early on Aug. 29.

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Strikes hit a location used by Hamas' armed wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and a farm, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter, citing witnesses.

Palestinian authorities did not comment about if the strikes caused any casualties.

Israel says it has carried out air strikes against Hamas militant targets in Gaza, in retaliation for incendiary balloons launched from the territory.

Explosions were heard in Gaza City in the early hours of Wednesday.

Several balloons were sent from Gaza into Israel earlier on Tuesday causing multiple fires, according to the Israeli fire service.

Israel conducted intense attacks in different parts of the blockaded Gaza City in the wee hours of May 17, according to Anadolu Agency's reporters.

Israeli warplanes bombarded many targets in Gaza's south, west, and north in the night, reported the correspondents on the ground.