The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to eight following a series of Israeli airstrikes launched at dawn on Saturday. The attacks hit several residential areas across the besieged territory, as the Israeli army continues its ground operations west of Rafah for the fourteenth consecutive day.

Medical sources confirmed the death of at least two civilians after an Israeli strike targeted a group of residents in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood of Shuja’iyya. Additional victims were recovered from beneath the rubble of destroyed homes in various locations in the north and center of the strip.

Simultaneously, Israeli forces continued demolishing residential buildings in western Rafah using artillery shelling and unmanned aerial vehicles. The bombardment has led to a mass displacement of residents and worsened the humanitarian crisis in the overcrowded city, which has been a refuge for thousands of displaced Palestinians since the onset of the ground incursion.

This escalation comes as part of a wider military operation launched by Israel on March 23. International organizations have repeatedly warned of the dire consequences of targeting civilian areas and the absence of safe humanitarian corridors.

Hospitals in Gaza are facing severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel, amid a continuing blockade and frequent communication outages that are hampering rescue and relief efforts.