70 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

At least 70 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 others injured during Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Monday, the Gaza-based health authorities said, reported Xinhua.

Nasser Medical Complex in the city has called on locals to "urgently donate blood, for the benefit of the wounded and sick inside the complex, given the severe and major shortage of blood units," the health authorities added.

Israeli warplanes launched an intensive bombardment on the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis after immediate evacuation orders were issued. The eastern areas began to witness mass displacement towards the city's west, especially Al-Mawasi, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said in a statement on Monday that it has received 1,217 appeals from besieged families asking for help to be rescued.

It holds Israel and the American administration "fully responsible" for the continuation of these killings and for the use of internationally prohibited weapons, the statement added.

"Families in Khan Younis have yet again received evacuation orders from Israeli authorities. Thousands of people on the move again, fleeing strikes and military operations," The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media platform X on Monday.

"The situation is impossible. The cycle of fear and displacement has gone on too long. Everyone is exhausted," the UN refugee agency added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Monday that it called on Gazan civilians to temporarily evacuate from specific areas of Khan Younis earlier in the day, which was due to intelligence indicating that "terrorists" were operating and firing rockets in these areas, as well as efforts by Hamas to reassemble its forces there.

Since the morning, the Israeli Air Force and IDF artillery forces have struck more than 30 "terror infrastructure sites" in Khan Younis, including in the area from which a projectile was launched toward Nirim in southern Israel earlier on Monday, the statement added.

Khan Younis has seen several massive Israeli attacks in July. On July 13, at least 90 Palestinians, half of them children and women, were killed after an Israeli airstrike hit tents for displaced people in Khan Younis.

Israeli media said the target of the Israeli attack was Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, but Hamas has rejected the claim. So far, no confirmation has been reported.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 39,006, the Gaza-based health authorities said on Monday.