Israeli military strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 60 Palestinians on Tuesday, including at a school sheltering displaced families, as Israeli tanks advanced on neighbourhoods in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Israeli tanks raided several neighbourhoods in eastern and central Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip before partially retreating, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens, the official Voice of Palestine radio and Hamas media reported.
At least 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City, medics said. One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the al-Amal Orphanage Society, which also houses displaced people, killing at least five, medics said.
The escalation came after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s allies Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a “painful response” to its enemy.
The situation in the Middle East escalated sharply after armed supporters of the Palestinian radical Hamas movement from the Gaza Strip infiltrated into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, killing residents of border communities and taking more than 240 hostages.
In response, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave with the aim of destroying the Hamas military and political structure and releasing all those abducted. The fighting in the Gaza Strip continues to this day.
