At least 17 Palestinians, including six from Khan Yunis, were killed in early Monday morning Israeli shelling across multiple areas of the Gaza Strip, local sources reported.

The attacks, which included drone strikes and artillery bombardment, targeted residential and medical infrastructure, intensifying the 19-month conflict.

In Khan Yunis, Israeli drones struck various neighborhoods, killing six residents and injuring others. The pharmaceutical factory within the Nasser Medical Complex was hit, while artillery shelling pounded the city’s eastern areas. Two homes in the Al-Amur neighborhood, east of Al-Fakhari, were also bombed, resulting in one death and multiple injuries.

Local sources reported that Israeli forces, infiltrating Al-Katiba Street and Street 5, executed Ahmed Sarhan by direct gunfire. Telecommunications and internet services were severed in Khan Yunis amid heavy aerial attacks near Nasser Hospital.

On Sunday evening, Israel announced a new ground invasion targeting several Gaza areas, marking a significant escalation in what Palestinian sources describe as a “war of extermination.” Since October 7, 2023, the conflict has claimed over 174,000 Palestinian lives, mostly women and children, with more than 11,000 reported missing and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The international community continues to call for an end to the violence as humanitarian conditions in Gaza deteriorate further. (ILKHA)