ISTANBUL

Fourteen Palestinians were killed early Tuesday in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, including women and children.

Israel carried out airstrikes on neighborhoods in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 31,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in the enclave and nearly 73,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.