The death toll in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 17,000 as Israel’s armed forces have stepped up their bombardment of the besieged enclave, where the humanitarian situation is near collapse.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has said that 17,177 people – including 7,112 children – have been killed and 46,000 wounded since the Hamas-Israel warfare started on October 7.

The Israeli military hit Rafah in southern Gaza twice overnight as United Nations officials warned there are no safe places left in the blockaded territory.

The centre of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, has also seen fighting amid Israel’s widening air and ground offensive in the southern part of the enclave, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have no safe place to shelter. Air strikes in northern Gaza have flattened residential buildings.

In the occupied West Bank, the death toll stood at 266, with 3,365 wounded.

The Israeli army said that 1,147 people have died, including 418 soldiers.

As the Israeli military has escalated its aerial and ground bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of civilians have been without roofs over their heads, with no access to food, water, and medicine.