According to medical authorities in Gaza, 21 Palestinians have died since dawn on Monday, and the number is predicted to increase.
As Israeli forces intensified a fresh week-long aerial and ground offensive on Rafah, close to the Egyptian border, reports Reuters.
Following weeks of relative peace following a ceasefire in January, Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza last Tuesday, killing close to 700 Palestinians, according to health officials. At least 400 women and children were among the fatalities, according to the report.
The resistance organization Hamas said that a number of its top security and political figures had also been slain.
Israel claims that in order to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining captives it is holding in Gaza, it has renewed its military operations.
It has questioned the number of deaths reported by health officials in the Hamas-run enclave and claims to try its utmost to minimize harm to civilians.
Israel is fighting Hamas, not Gazan people, according to the country's defense minister.
However, civilians are put in risk and suffer a terrible cost when Hamas fights from civilian homes, while wearing civilian clothing, and from behind civilians. We are calling on Gazans to leave conflict areas because of this," Katz stated on X.
Hamas disputes the use of civilians and their property for military objectives.
According to the mayor of Rafah, the Israeli military has sent part of its personnel to the Tel Al-Sultan area, trapping thousands of Palestinians.
"Contacts with the neighborhood are cut off completely and the fate of (people) is unknown. Families are trapped among the ruins, with no water, no food, no medicine, amid a total collapse of healthcare services," it said in a statement.
According to the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service, 50,000 people are still stranded in Rafah.
Troops surrounded Tel Al-Sultan, according to the Israeli military, in order to destroy "terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists in the area."
Over 50,000 people have died in the battle, which has lasted for almost 18 months, according to Palestinian officials on Sunday.
