Amid the ongoing Israeli airstrikes across all regions of the Gaza Strip on the 76th day of the war, Israeli naval vessels carried out extensive shelling on the shores of Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. The Israeli army also launched airstrikes on the Ma'an area east of Khan Younis, the largest city in the southern Gaza Strip. Additionally, the Israeli boats conducted heavy shelling in the sea off Rafah. Heavy machine gun clashes erupted in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, while Israeli artillery bombarded the Jabalia camp heavily. Planes targeted the al-Bureij camp in the central Strip, with renewed intense airstrikes on Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The series of airstrikes in Khan Younis, where thousands of displaced individuals have gathered, resulted in 55 deaths over the past 24 hours, according to Palestinian radio. This comes after Israel ordered the evacuation of a wide area in that city, which is considered the largest in the southern Gaza Strip and has seen many Palestinians fleeing the ongoing war for the past two and a half months.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that the Israeli army ordered the "immediate evacuation" of an area "covering about 20%" of Khan Younis. Israeli authorities believe that Hamas leaders, who planned the surprise attack on military bases and Israeli settlements near Gaza, are hiding in underground tunnels in that city. They have repeatedly confirmed that their forces "will not back down until they are eliminated."
It is noted that the conflict that erupted between Israel and Hamas two and a half months ago has resulted in approximately 20,000 deaths in the besieged Gaza Strip, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women. The number of injured Palestinians has reached 52,600, while 6,700 individuals are still unaccounted for, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
