At least 38 people killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the southern Gaza Strip, health officials said, as the UN human rights chief warned that the “darkest moment” of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip was unfolding in the besieged territory’s north.

Women and children were among at least 38 people killed in Israeli air attacks that hit several houses in Khan Yunis on Friday, health authorities said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tarek Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said images showing the site of the attack in Khan Younis were “disturbing: many bodies lie on the ground at Nasser Hospital, while while parents and relatives say goodbye to the victims who were handed over for burial.”

Ahmed Sobh told how his cousin shouted: “Help me, help me.”

“We ran and found her children, a boy and a girl, tortured. Her son was lying under a concrete column and it took us 1.5 hours to pull him out,” he told Reuters.

Ahmed al-Farra described digging through rubble to rescue relatives, including his mother, adding that he lost 15 members of his extended family in the airstrikes.

“When I was trying to dig (my mother) out, I looked at this wall and saw a tank aimed at me. I thought: “dig or look after the tank,” what should I do? I dug her out full of fear. Everyone was doing the same thing, digging in fear,” he said.

Israeli army strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 72 people since Thursday evening, health officials said.

The latest attacks included strikes on three houses in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, killing 25 people and wounding dozens more, medics said.

Later on Friday, an Israeli airstrike killed nine people in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

More than 42,000 people have been killed since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, according to Palestinian health officials.

As Israel continues to bomb the area, the UN human rights chief has warned that its offensive in the northern Gaza Strip could involve “atrocities”.

Israeli forces launched a new offensive in northern Gaza more than two weeks ago. About 400,000 people were trapped in the area – mainly in Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

The Gaza government press office said at least 770 Palestinians were killed and another 1,000 wounded in the attack, which lasted 21 days on Friday. Israeli forces also laid siege to Kamal Adwan Hospital a day after tanks shelled the facility.

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, warned on Friday that Israeli actions in northern Gaza “risk devastation of territory for all Palestinians” and that “we are facing what may amount to atrocities.”

Turk condemned the “continuous” bombing of the northern Gaza Strip and said that “the Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave the country without any guarantee of return. But there is no safe way to leave.”

In a statement, he said that “more than 150,000 people are reported to have been killed, injured or missing in Gaza” since the war there began just over a year ago.

“Incredibly, the situation is getting worse every day,” he said.

“My greatest fear is that, given the intensity, breadth, scale and flagrant nature of the Israeli operation currently underway in Northern Gaza, this number will increase dramatically.”

Turk called on world leaders to act, emphasizing that all states have an obligation under the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.

His statement underscored the urgency of the situation, warning that “today, the darkest moment of the conflict in Gaza is unfolding in the north of the strip, where the Israeli military is effectively exposing the entire population to bombing, siege and the risk of starvation.”

The UN human rights chief warned that “access to this part of Gaza is extremely limited, (and) almost no aid has reached the area for several weeks, while illegal restrictions remain.”

“Many are now at risk of starvation.”

The warning came as the United States renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

A Hamas spokesman confirmed to Reuters on Friday that a delegation led by the group’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials.

The official said Hamas was determined that any agreement must end the offensive in the Gaza Strip, remove Israeli troops from the enclave and reach a deal to exchange prisoners for hostages.

American and Israeli negotiators will meet in Doha in the coming days to try to restart talks, officials said Thursday.

Qatar and Egypt acted as mediators between Israel and Hamas during months of negotiations that broke down in August without reaching an agreement.