RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s Health Ministry says 150 people have been killed in the last 24 hours and another 313 were wounded.
The deaths bring the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s offensive to 26,900, according to the Hama-controlled ministry. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths but says most of those killed were women and children.
The nearly four-month war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted another 250.
Israeli forces are still battling militants across Gaza, even in the northern part of the territory, which was the initial target of the ground offensive in late October and where entire neighborhoods have been flattened.
The military said Wednesday that its forces killed more than 15 Hamas militants in northern Gaza over the past day and targeted militant infrastructure in a school.
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It said air and ground forces targeted militants on the outskirts of the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and resembles a dense urban neighborhood.
The military had said in mid-November that it was in control of Shati.
The heaviest fighting is in the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials suspect senior Hamas leaders may be hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels.
The war has driven some 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes into other parts of the besieged territory, and U.N. officials say a quarter of the population is starving.