Witnesses and rescuers have said heavy battles continued around eastern Khan Younis in the last 24 hours, AFP reports. The Nasser Hospital said 26 bodies were brought to the medical site.

Israel’s military claimed a day ago that its forces had “eliminated approximately 100 terrorists” in the city this week.

Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said the bodies of five captives recovered earlier this week had been pulled from underground tunnels and walls in “a hidden place”. Troops “were near those fallen bodies in the past, we did not know how to reach them” until this week, Halevi said in a statement.

The Israeli military on Monday ordered the evacuation of parts of the southern city, announcing its forces would “forcefully operate” there, including in an area previously declared a safe humanitarian zone.