About 100 armed fighters from the Palestinian militant organization Hamas have been killed since the start of the latest Israeli operation in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, the Israeli military said on Friday.
The offensive began on Monday after Israeli intelligence said Hamas militants had regrouped in the city.
The operation also aimed to recover the bodies of five Israeli hostages. The information could not be independently verified.
However, according to the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health, many civilians were also killed by airstrikes and tank fire.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people by militants from Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7 last year.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says some 39,000 people have been killed in the densely populated coastal strip since the war began.
