An Israeli air strike on a home where displaced people had taken refuge in central Gaza killed at least 11 people on Thursday, the territory鈥檚 civil defence spokesperson said.
Israel has intensified its offensive on the devastated Palestinian territory in recent weeks, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.
鈥楨leven people were killed and many are missing or wounded after an Israeli airstrike targeted a house which was sheltering displaced people north of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip,鈥� civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
Several children were among those killed, the emergency services said, and their bodies were taken to a nearby hospital.
Over nearly two years,聽Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.
The war was triggered by the聽October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The US-backed offensive on Gaza City came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing 鈥榞enocide鈥� in the Gaza Strip, saying prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as 鈥榙istorted and false鈥�.
Large parts of Gaza have been laid to waste, and last month a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of the territory.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Thursday that 7,00,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza City to the south since late August, as it presses an air and ground assault on the urban centre.
When asked by AFP, the military said that 鈥�7,00,000 Palestinians have evacuated鈥� from Gaza City to the south of the Gaza Strip.
The UN鈥檚 humanitarian agency, OCHA, on Thursday said that 3,88,400 displacement movements had been recorded since mid-August, most of them from Gaza City.
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings, where it has declared a famine.
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive on the Palestinian territory鈥檚 main urban hub, in what it says is a bid to root out Hamas after nearly two years of devastating war.
鈥極ver the past week, strikes in Gaza city have been especially intensive, including on internally displaced person tents, residential buildings and public infrastructure, with many resulting in high numbers of casualties,鈥� OCHA said.
Gaza鈥檚 civil defence agency 鈥� a rescue force operating under Hamas authority 鈥� said Israeli strikes killed 22 people across the territory on Thursday, including five in Gaza City.
An air strike on a home where displaced people had taken refuge in central Gaza killed 11 people, the civil defence said.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
AFP footage from the aftermath of the strike in Al-Zawaida camp showed Palestinians digging through the rubble in a search for survivors.
鈥楾he whole place was destroyed and nothing was left fit for human use,鈥� said Youssef Younis, a resident.
Another Al-Zawaida resident, Ahmed Abu Dahrouj, said: 鈥極ur message is the war must end immediately because we are experiencing an extermination.鈥�
