JERUSALEM – At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since Aug. 5, the Health Ministry said late Saturday.

The death toll includes six children and two women, it said in a statement and added that 203 people were injured in the Israeli attacks.

An explosion in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza City, killed four of the six children after an explosion, according to media reports

The Israeli army claimed on Twitter that the deadly situation in the camp emerged after a “misfire” from an Islamic Jihad rocket

“We did not conduct any activities in Jabaliya at the time of the event,” it said.

Palestinian groups have yet to comment about the explosion.

Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes in the area citing an “imminent threat of attack” by the Islamic Jihad group.

The attacks came amid rising tensions across Palestinian territories since Monday, when Israeli forces detained Bassam al-Saadi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, in a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. -AA