GAZA - Tension between Israel and militant groups led by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip continued, killing 230 Palestinians, medics said.

The health ministry in Gaza said in a press statement that at least 230 Palestinians were killed, including 64 children and 39 women, adding that more than 1,730 were injured, including 30 in critical conditions.

On Thursday, the health ministry said that a 32-year-old woman was killed and six were injured in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

An earlier press statement said that three other Palestinians were killed on Thursday morning and 15 were wounded in similar airstrikes on southern and central Gaza Strip.

An Israeli army spokesman said that Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes on scores of targets in various locations in the Gaza Strip, adding that the aerial operation targeted tunnels that belonged to Hamas militants.

On Thursday afternoon, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed wings claimed responsibility for launching more barrages of rockets from the Gaza Strip at towns and cities in central and southern Israel.

According to the Israeli media, the efforts to reach a cease-fire between the two sides in the Gaza Strip are ongoing amid expectations that the current fighting between the two sides would end on Friday.