Israeli strikes in southern, central Gaza kill more than 60 Palestinians, including in 'safe zone'

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, including one that struck an Israeli-declared "safe zone" crowded with thousands of displaced people.

The day's deadliest strike came in the afternoon, hitting near a gas station outside the southern city of Khan Younis in Muwasi, a coastal region that's part of the humanitarian "safe zone" where the Israeli military has told Palestinians to take refuge to escape offensives elsewhere.

Officials at Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital said 17 people were killed. Nearby areas are packed with tent camps.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike. It occurred in the same area where Gaza health officials said more than 90 Palestinians, including children, were killed by a strike on Saturday that Israel said was targeting Hamas' top military commander, Mohammed Deif. His status remained unclear.

The new airstrikes came as Israel and Hamas continued to weigh the latest cease-fire proposal. Hamas has said talks meant to wind down the nine-month-long war would continue even after Israel targeted Deif.

International mediators are working to push Israel and Hamas toward a deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.

Other strikes hit in the Nuseirat and Zawaida refugee camps of central Gaza. Strikes on four houses killed at least 24 people, including 10 women and four children. Another hit a school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat, killing at least nine. An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies, some wrapped in blankets and a floral sheet, as they were taken to Al Aqsa hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, where hospital officials provided the death count.

Israel's military said it "conducted targeted raids on terror targets" in central Gaza, without elaborating. It did not immediately provide details on the targets.

Other strikes in Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah overnight Monday and on Tuesday killed 12 people, according to medical officials and AP journalists. An AP journalist counted the bodies at the hospital before a funeral was held at its gates.

The military said air force planes struck some 40 targets in Gaza over the past day, among them observation posts, Hamas military structures and explosives-rigged buildings.

The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, has killed more than 38,600 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The war has created a humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal Palestinian territory, displaced most of its 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.

Hamas' October attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, with about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.

Violence has also surged in the West Bank. On Tuesday a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli policeman, wounding him lightly, before another officer opened fire, killing the assailant who was identified as a 19-year-old from Gaza.