Israeli airstrikes kill seven in Gaza

At least seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured early Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza City and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) reported.

According to local medical sources, five people, including two women and a child, were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a tent sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis. Several others sustained injuries in the same attack.

It comes as Israeli forces continued to demolish residential buildings in central Khan Younis. Heavy artillery shelling was also reported in the Al-Mawasi area of Rafah, compounding the already dire humanitarian situation in southern Gaza.

This escalation comes as the overall death toll in the Gaza Strip continues to rise since October 7 2023, bringing the total to 56,412, the majority of whom are women and children, and 133,054 injured, according to the latest figures released by Palestinian health authorities.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army issued mass evacuation orders on Sunday warning residents of multiple densely populated neighbourhoods in Gaza City and Jabalia of “intensifying military activity” across the northern part of the Strip.