Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 17 people late Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip.
The strikes hit the Khan Younis area, including sections where people displaced by more than a year of war were living in tents.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it conducted several airstrikes in the Khan Younis area targeting terrorists who took part in the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces blamed Hamas for operating in civilian areas.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have said civilians in Gaza do not have a safe place to go amid the ongoing Israeli strikes and ground operations, and in a territory where so many areas have been devastated by the conflict.
Earlier Tuesday, Israel’s military said it carried out raids in the occupied West Bank, killing at least three militants and arresting 18 others.
The Israel Defense Forces said an airstrike killed two militants in the village of Tamun after they fired at troops.
Israeli forces killed another militant during fighting in Taluza, while an Israeli soldier was wounded.
The raids came a day after gunman attacked a bus and car near the West Bank town of Al-Funduq, killing three people and wounding seven others.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the October 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel and the resulting Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian health officials say Israeli troop fire and attacks by Israeli settlers have killed at least 818 Palestinians in the West Bank during that time, while Palestinians have killed dozens of Israelis.
The war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in which the militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. There are still about 100 hostages being held in Gaza, with at least one-third of them believed to be dead.
Israel’s counteroffensive has killed at least 45,800 people and injured more than 109,000, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The ministry does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.
The United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others have designated Hamas as a terror group.
Some information for this report was provided by from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
