Israeli forces killed dozens of Islamist Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, military officials said on Saturday.
In the southern city of Khan Younis, troops eliminated 20 Hamas militiamen in close combat and air strikes, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Military facilities of the enemy were destroyed in targeted operations and an unspecified number of fighters were captured. At least ten terrorists were killed in central Gaza, the IDF said.
The information could not initially be independently verified.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli fighter jets early on Saturday bombed a high-rise building in Rafah, the southernmost village in the sealed-off coastal strip. The residents had received warnings in advance and were not in the building in the centre of the city, which was destroyed.
Nevertheless, an unspecified number of civilians were injured in the attack on the Al-Masri Tower, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing local sources.
A total of 82 Palestinians have died in the past 24 hours as a result of fighting, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said on Saturday. A further 122 people were injured.
The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Gaza war last autumn has risen to 30,960 and the number of injured to 72,524. These figures could also not be independently verified.
Casualty figures collected in the hospitals do not differentiate between civilians and armed fighters. However, 70% of the victims are said to be women, children and elderly men.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented massacre carried out by Palestinian Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people. Another 250 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip.
