At least 250 people have been killed in a wave of attacks by the Israeli forces in 24 hours across Gaza, with 100 dying in the latest strikes on the Magazhi refugee camp, reported Al Jazeera, citing information released by the Government Media Office in the Palestinian enclave on Monday.
The office said that seven families had been wiped out as Israel attacked a residential area near the camp. About 500 others across the Gaza Strip sustained injuries with Israel mounting offensives in Khan Younis, Bureij and Nuseirat.
This comes as more than 20,000 Palestinians, including at least 8,000 children, have been killed since October 7 amid Israel’s war on the besieged region. The war, triggered after the attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, has entered its 12th week. Hamas’ attack on Israel had killed 1,200 people and the group had taken more than 200 hostages.
Soon after announcing an expansion of ground operations in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said it has struck around 200 targets in the besieged enclave using their ground, aerial and naval forces, reported CNN.
The Israeli military also claimed to have unearthed a weapons compound operated by Hamas in northern Gaza. The facility was located inside a civilian structure next to schools, mosques and a medical clinic, reported CNN, which had not yet independently confirmed the statement.
“Explosive belts adapted for children, dozens of mortar shells, hundreds of grenades, and intelligence documents were found inside the compound [in northern Gaza],” the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement quoted by CNN. “Troops identified a number of terrorists that exited a Hamas military compound containing observation assets. The ground forces directed an aerial strike on the compound and the terrorists were killed.”
The Israeli military also killed seven Hamas militants and destroyed four of the group’s “observation assets” in northern Gaza’s Jabalya area, the statement added.
In southern Gaza, the Israeli military claimed that it found several weapons including dozens of grenades and explosives after a targeted raid on a military command center in Khan Younis city.
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