In Pictures

Khan Younis homes in southern Gaza levelled by deadly Israeli bombardment

Bombardment of southern districts continues even as large numbers of Palestinians have moved there to flee a looming Israeli ground offensive.

A Palestinian civil defence member stands through a crack in a collapsed building hit by Israeli bombardment while searching for victims and survivors, in Khan Yunis — A Palestinian civil defence member in Khan Younis makes his way through a crack in a collapsed building hit by Israeli bombardment while searching for victims and survivors. [Mahmud Hams/AFP]

Israel has pounded the southern Gaza Strip with more air raids, destroying homes despite its earlier directive for Palestinians residing in the north of the besieged enclave to move there in advance of an expected ground offensive.

Medical staff at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said on Thursday they had received at least 12 dead and 40 wounded.

Sirens wailed as emergency crews rushed to rescue survivors from one building, where many were believed trapped under the rubble of misshapen bed frames, broken furniture and concrete chunks. Nearby buildings had balconies and facades blown off.

The United Nations says about half of Palestinians in Gaza have been made homeless, still trapped inside the enclave, one of the most densely populated places on earth.

Health officials in Gaza say the Israeli bombardment has killed nearly 3,500 people since October 7, when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack inside Israel that has killed some 1,400 people.

Palestinians civil look for survivors in the rubble of a building hit during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis — Palestinians look for survivors in the rubble of a building. [Mahmud Hams/AFP]

A child is recovered from the rubble of a residential building leveled in an Israeli airstrike, in Khan Younis — A wounded child is taken out of the rubble of a residential building levelled in an Israeli air attack. [Haitham Imad/EPA]

Wounded Palestinians react at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis — Wounded Palestinians at the site of an Israeli air attack in Khan Younis. [Yasser Qudih/Reuters]

A man carries a wounded child at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 19 — A man carries a wounded child after an air attack. [Yasser Qudih/Reuters]