Gaza death toll crosses 25,000

The toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7 has passed 25,000, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, amid heavy Israeli strikes and street battles raging across the Hamas-run Strip.

Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed in several locations, from Jabalia in the north to Khan Younis further south.

Gaza's health ministry said 178 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days so far of the war. Israel's military said a soldier was killed in fighting.

A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 have been injured in Israeli strikes, the Gaza ministry said in a statement.

Israeli forces have said they have cleared much of northern Gaza of Hamas' military network and more than a million residents of that part of the enclave have moved south to flee the bombardment. However fighting has continued in the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas around Gaza City.

Israel said its soldiers had killed 15 Palestinian gunmen during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip, while snipers, backed by air support, had "eliminated a number of" fighters in Khan Younis.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the Israeli account and the reported death toll, saying it was meant to "portray fake and delusional victory".

Palestinians said fierce fighting has raged in Jabalia for the past three days. The sounds of shelling from the air and the ground were non-stop, they said. Some buildings caught fire and smoke rose where bombs had fallen.

Along Gaza's southern coast, witnesses said Israeli naval boats shelled the beach.

In the southern city of Rafah, where over a million displaced people are concentrated, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car. Another car was hit in Gaza City, killing three other people, health officials said.

Violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Hamas's rival the Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule. The Palestinian Health Ministry there said Israeli forces have killed 360 Palestinians since October 7.