GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — At the time of this writing, July 9, the Ministry of Health has told Al-Monitor that 76 Palestinians have been killed and more than 520 wounded since Israel began its latest offensive against the Gaza Strip. On July 8, Israeli airstrikes targeted an inhabited house, a civilian car and empty plots of land.

Events had escalated sharply, when Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on the evening of July 7, following the burial of six of its members, launched volleys of rockets into Israeli cities and towns bordering the Gaza Strip for the first time since the eight-day war in November 2012.

According to the spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qadra, “Injuries were mostly registered among civilians, in particular women and children, especially those who come from the northern and southern provinces. Following a meeting with the Higher Committee for Emergency Services, the Ministry of Health and the latter declared a state of emergency and alert among all medical and health personnel in hospitals operating under the Ministry of Health." He added, “We have canceled all leaves and increased the shifts of nurses, physicians and staff, especially in light of the Zionist escalation.”

At dawn on July 8, the Israeli occupation forces initiated a military operation against the Gaza Strip, with dozens of air raids on the Strip’s cities and camps. The largest number of casualties was registered in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, while Israeli planes bombed the house of the Kawareh family that same afternoon.