Israeli strikes intensify, Gaza death toll at 157

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 52 people on Saturday, including two severely handicapped women in a care facility, medics said. The toll made Saturday the bloodiest day yet in the five-day conflict, and hiked the overall toll to 157. The deadliest strike came in the Tuffah district in eastern Gaza City, where 18 people were killed in strikes that hit a home and a mosque, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. Among at least 50 people injured in the strike was Hamas police chief Tayseer al-Batsh, who was reportedly in critical condition. Elsewhere, three people were killed in Rafah in southern Gaza, and one person in Jebaliya, in the north of the coastal enclave. The evening strikes came after Hamas launched a barrage of long-range rockets at Israeli cities including Tel Aviv, after issuing a warning that it would strike. Earlier, eight people were killed in raids on Gaza City, central El-Bureij and northern Jabaliya. They included a woman aged 25, and a 16-year-old, Qudra said. And six men, including two nephews of former Hamas premier Ismail Haniya, were killed in an afternoon strike on the Sheikh Radwan district of western Gaza City. Their deaths followed an early morning strike that killed two women at a charitable association housing the disabled in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. AFP