In “targeted raids” in central Khan Younis, Israel has said its soldiers “eliminated terrorists, destroyed terrorist infrastructure and located weapons”.

According to Reuters, Israeli warplanes also bombed targets across the densely populated coastal strip in one of the heaviest phases of the two-month-old conflict.

Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, said at least 17 were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Maghazi in Central Gaza on Wednesday night.

Al Jazeera said an Israeli bombardment of Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza killed 22 relatives of its Gaza correspondent Moamen Al-Sharafi, and it condemned the operation.

Hundreds of thousands of people made homeless in north Gaza during the escalation were desperately seeking shelter in the diminishing number of places in the south designated as “safe” by Israel.