JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, according to Gaza's Civil Defense Agency, following a rocket barrage fired from the enclave by Hamas.

Separately, Palestinian authorities reported that a 14-year-old Palestinian-American boy was fatally shot by Israeli forces during clashes in the occupied West Bank.

The violence escalated after Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, launched rockets into southern Israel earlier on Sunday, which the group described as retaliation for Israeli "massacres "of Palestinian civilians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the rocket fire as "unacceptable" and vowed a "forceful response".

The Israeli military said it intercepted most of the projectiles, though one rocket struck the city of Ashkelon, lightly wounding three people. In response, the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, conducted airstrikes targeting suspected rocket launch sites in central Gaza, including Deir al-Balah. Witnesses reported sustained explosions overnight as strikes rocked the area. Gaza's Civil Defense Agency reported at least 12 people killed on Monday in Israeli strikes.

Israel resumed large-scale air and ground operations in Gaza on March 18. Gaza's health authorities said earlier on Sunday that these renewed offensives have killed at least 1,335 Palestinians and injured 3,297 others.

'Unprovoked shooting'

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said a 14-year-old Palestinian-American, Omar Mohammad Rabea, was fatally shot on Sunday during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank. The IDF claimed troops engaged "terrorists" throwing stones at civilians, resulting in one death and two injuries. Palestinian officials, however, denounced the shooting as unprovoked.

The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has experienced intensified military raids since January, which Israel describes as counterterrorism operations. Palestinian leaders and residents accuse Israeli forces and settlers of escalating violence, exacerbating instability in the territory.

The latest attacks came as Netanyahu headed to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump on the conflict and other issues including new tariffs.

The US, a mediator in ceasefire efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had expressed support for Israel's resumption of the fighting last month.

Meanwhile in Yemen, suspected US airstrikes over the weekend targeting the Houthis killed at least six people, the group said on Sunday, while a bombing video posted by Trump suggested casualties in the overall campaign may be higher than the rebels acknowledge.

A strike on Sunday night in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, hit a house, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others, the Houthis said. Their al-Masirah satellite news channel showed images of the damaged home and people receiving care in a hospital.

The strike on the house in Sanaa's Shu'ub district allegedly targeted a Houthi leader, part of a wider decapitation campaign launched by the Trump administration to kill the group's leaders. The intense US airstrikes targeting the group over their attacks on shipping in Middle East waters — related to the Israel-Hamas conflict — have killed at least 73 people, according to figures released by the Houthis.

Xinhua - Agencies