Bodies arrived overnight at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip.
By Monday morning, hospital director Iyad al-Jabri had counted 58 dead and said “dozens of women and children” may still be buried under the debris.
Throughout the night, the sky over the Palestinian coastal region was covered in yellow flashes and splashes of red.
It came as the Israeli military said its land assault on Gaza had split the narrow zone in two and was “significant” as part of its campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the militants’ unprecedented October 7 attacks. “Warned of attacks.
According to Israeli officials, about 1,400 people in Israel, mainly civilians, have been killed and more than 240 taken hostage since Hamas began attacks.