Several Palestinians killed as Israel attacks 2 universities, 3 schools sheltering 30,000 displaced people in Gaza

Israeli forces on Monday attacked two universities and three schools sheltering 30,000 displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, with airstrikes and artillery shelling, killing and injuring several people.

The army targeted five shelters in Khan Younis that housed 30,000 displaced people, the government media office in Gaza said in a statement.

The Israeli army used reconnaissance planes and artillery shells to attack Al-Aqsa University, University College of Applied Sciences, Khaledia School, Al-Mawasi School, and Industry School in Khan Younis, the statement said.

The shelling claimed the lives of several people and injured others who sought refuge in shelters that Israel claimed are safe, it added.

Earlier, several people were killed and injured in an intensified Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis city amid fierce clashes with Palestinian resistance groups.

The incursion forces advanced to the outskirts of the Al-Mawasi neighborhood, west of the city, and fired with automatic weapons at the displaced people, resulting in several deaths and injuries, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

He added that violent clashes and artillery shelling continue from the south and west of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, and ambulances are having difficulty moving to recover the dead and evacuate the wounded.

The Israeli army also dropped bombs on various areas of Khan Younis before dawn, while the sounds of heavy explosions were heard from time to time, and thick clouds of smoke were visible in the sky, particularly near the Nasser Medical Complex.

Palestinian medical sources reported that several dead and wounded have been transported from the vicinity of Al-Aqsa University in the Al-Mawasi area, which houses thousands of displaced people, to the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah, in the far south of Gaza.

According to local sources, the Israeli army destroyed dozens of homes in the Qizan Abu Rashwan and Qaa al-Qurain neighborhoods south of Khan Younis during violent clashes between Israeli forces and resistance elements.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced on Monday that it lost contact with its crews in Khan Younis due to the "ground invasion" of Israeli tanks in the area.

In recent days, the Israeli army has expanded its military and ground incursions in Khan Younis.

On Sunday evening, Israeli Security Minister Yoav Galant said his army will increase its operations in Khan Younis in the coming days until the “war's objectives are met.”

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 cross-border incursion by Hamas, killing at least 25,105 Palestinians and injuring 62,681. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.