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GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were killed and many others severely injured on predawn Thursday due to the continuous Israeli airstrikes carried out over the besieged Gaza Strip.

The spokesperson of the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qadra, confirmed that among the three killed Palestinians was a 23-year-old pregnant mother along with her 18-month-old toddler.

The ministry identified the mother as Inas Muhammad Khamash and her daughter as Bayan Khamash.

The ministry added that Inas' husband, Muhammad Khamash, suffered moderate to serious injuries when Israeli warplanes struck the Jaafari area in the central Gaza Strip.

Al-Qadra announced that in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli airstrikes killed a third Palestinian, who was identified as Ali al-Ghandour, 30.

The ministry mentioned that about 12 Palestinians were transferred to hospitals with injuries, among them were two reported as critical.

A Ma'an reporter said that loud explosions were heard in the city of Rafah, which was caused by the launching of Israeli missiles towards various sites belonging to the Hamas movement.

Sources also confirmed that serious material damages were caused in Gaza.

According to an Israeli army spokesperson, Israeli warplanes targeted and bombed about 140 locations throughout the Gaza Strip.

The escalation started on late Wednesday, when Palestinians shot at an Israeli army patrol on the Gaza border, only damaging the vehicle.

Israel responded with airstrikes and shelling of several locations, which led to the killing of the three Palestinians.

The Hamas movement responded to Israeli airstrikes with rockets fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.

Several light injuries and damages to property were reported.

Israel regularly carries out airstrike attacks in Gaza under the pretext of targeting Hamas movement sites.

Last week, the Ministry of Health in Gaza issued statistics regarding the number of killed and injured Palestinian protesters during "The Great March of Return" protests since March 30th until the end of July.

The statistics showed that 155 Palestinians were shot and killed, while 17,259 suffered from various injuries, including tear-gas suffocation.