At least 14 people, including three children, were killed by Israeli air strikes and gunfire in Gaza on Sunday, according to the territory’s civil defence agency.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “13 people died in air strikes at four locations around the Gaza Strip,” while another person was killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre.

Bassal described one strike in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighbourhood where two children died after an early morning attack destroyed their home. “The house was completely destroyed,” he said.

A relative, Abdel Rahman Azzam, 45, recounted the moment of the blast. “I heard a huge explosion at my relative’s house,” he said. “I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire.”

“We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs – two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop,” Azzam added. “They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning. This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up.”

Elsewhere, Bassal reported that a drone strike killed five people, including a child, at a tent sheltering displaced families near the southern city of Khan Yunis. In Rafah, a young man was killed “by Israeli fire this morning while waiting for aid” near a humanitarian distribution centre.

The Israeli military did not comment on these specific incidents but said it was fighting “to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.” It issued an evacuation order on Sunday for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the north, warning that operations would “intensify and expand… to destroy the capabilities of the terrorist organisations,” according to military spokesman Avichay Adraee. Residents were told to “evacuate immediately south” to Al-Mawasi on the coast.

Israel launched its offensive in October 2023 following a Hamas attack that killed 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official figures. Since then, the military campaign has killed at least 56,412 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry – figures that the United Nations considers reliable.

Following a ceasefire with Iran last week after a 12-day war, Israel announced it would refocus on its operations in Gaza, where Palestinian militants continue to hold Israeli hostages.