Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill 51, says Hamas-run health ministry

Israeli air strikes and a ground operation targeting the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza have killed at least 51 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Tanks reportedly advanced into some parts of the city and its surrounding area on Tuesday night, with residents reporting gunfire and heavy shelling.

One wounded man who made it to hospital told the BBC “tanks stormed in” to his village without warning.

Separately, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck Hamas targets located in three schools sheltering displaced people in central and northern Gaza overnight.

The IDF said Hamas members were operating inside “command and control centres” embedded inside Muscat, Rimal and Bureij Preparatory schools.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least nine civilians were killed at Muscat school, in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, and that six others were killed at the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans, in the Rimal neighbourhood.

Later, the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans said in a Facebook post that eight people were killed and a large number wounded, including children and women, when an Israeli strike hit one of its buildings housing hundreds of displaced civilians.

Israel’s continued strikes into Gaza came a day after it repelled a barrage of missiles from Iran and launched a ground invasion into Lebanon. It has described Tuesday’s advance into Lebanon as a “limited” operation, targeting sites belonging to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after a year of cross-border fighting.

The IDF is yet to comment on the strikes in southern Gaza, which reportedly occurred at dawn on Wednesday.

But one man from Qizan al-Najjar village, south-east of Khan Younis, told BBC Arabic some of his relatives had been killed in the attack.

“Tanks stormed into the area, accompanied by quadcopters that directly targeted us,” he said, speaking from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where medical officials also gave updates on the death toll.

Another man at the hospital said: “We were in Qizan al-Najjar when suddenly, shells began to rain down on us from planes and tanks.”

A third man told BBC Arabic: “There was no prior warning. Following the rocket fire from Lebanon, we witnessed complete destruction. I barely survived; my daughter is injured, and my wife has a head injury that may lead to vision loss.”

He said Israeli forces had also “completely destroyed” a house where displaced families had been sheltering.

Gaza’s health ministry on Wednesday warned the death toll could rise, with another 82 people injured in the strikes.

The IDF has launched multiple ground operations targeting Hamas fighters in Khan Younis – Gaza’s second-largest urban area – since December.

The war began when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza that has now killed a total of 41,689 people, according to the health ministry.