A Palestinian health ministry spokesman said that 13 people had been killed since sundown, when Palestinians across Gaza broke their Ramadan fast on Wednesday.

Thirty-one of Wednesday's dead were killed in the southern Khan Younis area, Ashraf al-Qidra added.

After intense Israeli strikes on the Khazaa and al-Fakhari neighborhoods overnight and early Wednesday, medics told Ma'an they spent the day pulling bodies from the rubble and searching for injured.

However, they said their work was impeded as Israeli forces prevented them from entering the area several times. Ambulances have still not reached some of those injured or killed by strikes on Khuzaa, the medics said.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human rights estimated on Wednesday that 81.5 percent of those killed in the Israeli offensive were civilians.

Three Israeli troopers were killed by Palestinian fighters on Wednesday, bringing the total number of soldiers dead in the offensive to 31, the regime’s military said in a statement. Hamas, however, said over 40 Israeli troops have been killed during the conflict.

NTJ/NJF