GAZA: Gaza's health ministry on Sunday said the death toll in the war-torn Palestinian territory breached 25,000 as Israel pushed its southward offensive and renewed bombardment in the north.
Israel is pressing its push in southern Gaza as it seeks to destroy the Palestinian groups responsible for the attack of October 7.
In early January, Israel's military said the command structure in northern Gaza had been dismantled, leaving only isolated fighters.
But witnesses said that Israeli boats were bombarding Gaza City and other areas in the north early on Sunday. Hamas movement has also reported heavy combat in the north.
"Dozens are still under the rubble," the government's media office said, adding that the dead and injured "could not be transferred to hospitals due to the continued artillery shelling on... Khan Yunis and the Tal al-Hawa area in Gaza City and the north".
The Israeli army said it "eliminated a number of fighters" in the main southern city of Khan Yunis and killed 15 in northern Gaza over the past day.
Thick plumes of smoke billowed above Khan Yunis on Sunday morning, journalists saw.
Israel's relentless bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 25,105 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
A ministry statement said some 62,681 people were also wounded in the fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
Over the past 24 hours, the ministry said 178 people had been killed across the Gaza Strip.
Among 250 captives, Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza, of whom at least 27 are believed to have been killed, according to a tally based on Israeli figures.
In a briefing on Saturday evening, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had found a tunnel in Khan Yunis where some captives had previously been kept.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says about 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, with about one million crowded into the Rafah area.
UN agencies have warned better aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom.
Diplomatic efforts have sought to secure scaled-up aid deliveries for Gaza and a truce, after a week-long cessation of hostilities in November saw the release dozens of captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The war has sent regional tensions soaring, with a surge in violence involving Palestine's allies from Lebanon to Yemen and beyond.
Deadly exchanges have also occurred regularly between Israeli forces and Lebanon's fighters.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported two deaths in an Israeli strike on Saturday. — AFP
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