NNA - Israeli forces intensified their bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people, more than half of them in areas north of the territory where the army has been deployed for about a month in a campaign it says is aimed at preventing the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from regrouping, medics said, according to "Reuters".

Palestinians have described the new massive air and ground offensive and forced evacuation orders as “ethnic cleansing,” aimed at emptying two towns and two refugee camps in northern Gaza of their residents to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas militants who launch attacks from there.

Medics said at least 13 Palestinians were killed in separate attacks on homes in the town of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, the largest of the Strip's eight oldest camps and the focus of the army's new military offensive. The rest were killed in separate Israeli air strikes on Gaza City and areas in the southern part of the territory.

Israel did not comment on its military operations on Sunday in the northern Gaza Strip.

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