Israeli strikes kills scores of Palestinians in Gaza

Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes on Saturday killed at least 26 Palestinians, including six children, marking one of the highest death tolls since an agreement was reached to stop the fighting.

Medical officials said Israeli missiles struck locations in both northern and southern Gaza, including an apartment in Gaza City and a tent camp in Khan Younis.

While Israeli planes also carried out further strikes on the eastern part of the Bureij camp in central Gaza, while the army issued expulsion orders for a building in Khan Younis, according to local officials.

Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian officials said Israeli forces fired artillery shells east of Khan Younis and east of Gaza City.

The strikes came a day before officials were scheduled to reopen a border crossing with Egypt in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city.

The al-Shifah Hospital said a strike on the apartment building in the Gaza City killed three children, their aunt, and their grandmother on Saturday morning, adding that the children’s mother survived.

Nasser Hospital said the strike on the tent camp sparked a fire that killed seven people, including a father, his three children, and three grandchildren.

Since the start of the October ceasefire, Gaza’s Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 Palestinians and injured at least 1,412.

Meanwhile, a strike on a police station killed at least 11 officers, including four policewomen, and inmates held at the station.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 500 people, mostly civilians, since the US-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel took effect in October.