The Israeli army says it killed dozens of fighters in Gaza in the past day, amid shelling from the Gaza Strip on Israeli border towns reported in a statement on Thursday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a mortar shell was fired from the central section of the strip towards the Nahal Oz kibbutz near the border the previous day, though it fell inside the Gaza Strip.
Rocket alarms sounded in several border towns on Wednesday, according to the IDF.
"IDF aircraft struck and eliminated the terrorists responsible for firing the failed mortar shell toward Kibbutz Nahal Oz that fell inside Gaza," the statement said.
Several armed Palestinians were killed in further incidents in the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.
The army also continued operations in the south of the Gaza Strip and troops found and destroyed rocket launchers in the Hamad neighbourhood of Khan Younis, it said. "Two identified terrorists" were killed, the army said.
Hamad is home to a new residential area financed by Qatar. Israel said Hamas fighters were hiding there and that soldiers had also found weapons stored there.
So far, Israel's ground and air offensive in Gaza has killed 31,341 people, in a war triggered by the October 7 massacre by militants from Palestinian Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups. They killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped more than 200 and took them to Gaza.
The latest death toll from Gaza includes 69 people killed in the past day according to the health authority in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.
A further 100 people were injured, bringing the total number of injured to more than 73,100, with more than two thirds of these women and minors.
The figures could not initially be independently verified.
As the war rages on, Israel is facing growing criticism abroad for the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and soaring death toll.
