Large plumes of smoke rise up into the sky following Israeli air attacks against residential buildings in Gaza City on October 7, 2023. (Photo by Shehab news agency)

Palestinian medical authorities say more than 230 people have been killed and many more injured as a result of Israeli bombardment across the besieged Gaza Strip.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that hospital officials in the Strip have recorded the death of 232 civilians and injury of nearly 1,700 others. A large number of buildings, homes and public facilities have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli bombardments.

Israel launched the strike after resistance fighters staged a surprise, large-scale operation in response to the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.

Local sources confirmed the arrival of 9 dead bodies at Gaza�s largest medical complex, Al-Shifa hospital, five others at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, and another two at Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

Additionally, an Israeli fighter jet struck a residential building near al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City with a missile, injuring at least six civilians and severely damaging to the targeted structure and nearby homes.

Six Israeli rockets slammed into a site in the Ansar area west of Gaza City, completely destroying it and causing damage to adjacent residential buildings.

Israeli warplanes also carried out airstrikes on medical personnel in Gaza. One of the airstrikes targeted an ambulance at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, while the other struck the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

Israeli military forces fired dozens of concussion rockets into agricultural lands in the border areas east and north of Gaza, causing damage to nearby homes.

Meantime, the Israeli Health Ministry says so far 908 injured people have been taken to hospitals for treatment in the ongoing retaliatory attacks by Palestinian fighters on southern and central Israel.

At least 100 have been killed in the unprecedented assaults, authorities say.

The Israeli Army Radio network alleged that the regime�s troops had killed nine Hamas members in the southern town of Nirim, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli Navy also claimed it had killed dozens of Palestinian fighters, who attempted to infiltrate into Israel this morning.

Furthermore, the Israeli military�s top spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the Hamas resistance movement had taken settlers as hostages to the Gaza Strip.

In a briefing with reporters, Hagari said Israeli soldiers have also been killed in the fighting. No statistics have been given on the number of hostages or soldiers killed.