The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 51 people were killed and 82 wounded in the Israeli attacks on Khan Younis that began early Wednesday. Records at the European Hospital show that seven women and 12 children, as young as 22 months old, were among those killed.

Another 23 people, including two children, were killed in separate strikes across Gaza, according to local hospitals.

Residents said Israel had carried out heavy airstrikes as its ground forces staged an incursion into three neighbourhoods in Khan Younis. Mahmoud al-Razd, a resident who said four relatives were killed in the raids, described heavy destruction and said first responders had struggled to reach destroyed homes.

“The explosions and shelling were massive,” he told The Associated Press. “Many people are thought to be under the rubble, and no one can retrieve them.”

Israel carried out a weekslong attacks earlier this year in Khan Younis that left much of Gaza's second-largest city in ruins. 

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, more than half were women and children. 

* This story has been edited by Ahram Online.