DEIR EL-BALAH – Overnight and into Sunday, Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of at least 66 individuals, according to local hospitals and medical personnel in the region. Israel claims this intensified offensive aims to pressure Hamas into considering a temporary truce.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The Nasser hospital, situated in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, reported receiving the bodies of 20 victims. These casualties occurred due to several airstrikes at night that targeted homes and makeshift shelters in the Muwasi region, where displaced families were taking refuge.

In northern Gaza, at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes, according to first responders from the health ministry and the civil defense.

The health ministry’s emergency team noted that among the deceased were nine family members who died when their residence in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp was struck by an airstrike.

Another strike hit the house of the Berawi family, also in Jabaliya, killing 10 people including seven children and a woman, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government. Among the dead were two parents and their three children and a father and his four children, it said.

In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah. One strike in the Zweida town killed seven people, including two children and four women. The second hit an apartment in Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their child, the hospital said.