Rescuers in the Gaza Strip report that Israeli strikes since dawn have killed 13 people, including seven children, in the besieged territory as the regime is pressing ahead with its bloody military onslaught against Palestinians.

Spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defense agency, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP news agency that “Ten people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital as martyrs following an Israeli air strike that targeted the al-Farra family home in central Khan Younis.”

Witnesses reported continuous and intensive Israeli tank fire in Khan Younis.

Moreover, one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded following an aerial attack on a group of civilians in Rafah.

In central Gaza, Israeli drones struck a group of civilians in Deir el-Balah. A number of casualties were transferred to the al-Aqsa Hospital.

The civil defense agency also reported two people killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a group of civilians in the al-Atatra area in the northern city of Beit Lahia.

On Friday morning, the Israeli military released an “urgent and serious” evacuation notice for residents living in various neighborhoods east of Gaza City.

The United Nations has decried the toll of ongoing Israeli attacks across Gaza on civilians, finding that “a large percentage of fatalities are children and women”.

“Between 18 March and 9 April 2025, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people,” the UN human rights office said, adding that “in some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children.”

UN: 12,500 Gaza patients still in need of medical evacuation

Meanwhile, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq confirmed on Thursday that there are still about 12,500 patients in Gaza who urgently need to be evacuated for medical treatment.

Haq urged that medical institutions be empowered to conduct these evacuations through all accessible crossings and corridors.

In a press briefing held in New York, Haq announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) has facilitated certain medical evacuations from Gaza. On Wednesday, Israel permitted the departure of only 18 patients along with approximately 30 accompanying individuals for specialized medical care.

He reiterated the urgent need to reopen border crossings to facilitate the entry of vital supplies into Gaza, cautioning that the current resources are depleting rapidly as the humanitarian crisis worsens.

Haq also emphasized that over 60,000 Palestinian children in Gaza are experiencing malnutrition, particularly as fuel and resources in community-operated charity kitchens are quickly running out.

Throughout Gaza, United Nations partners have raised alarms regarding a critical lack of clean water in shelters accommodating displaced individuals.

Numerous international and local organizations had earlier cautioned about the dire repercussions of intensifying the Israeli blockade, forecasting a potential escalation into widespread famine affecting the Palestinian population.

More than 50,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s military onslaught since October 2023.