ISTANBUL

At least 70 Palestinians were killed and 200 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a convoy of displaced civilians heading from northern Gaza to south, according to the Gaza-based Interior Ministry.

Iyad Al-Buzm, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the convoy was targeted as around 150 civilians were making their way through Salah Aldin Street in Al-Zeytoun neighborhood.

Al-Buzm said that despite Israeli calls to find refuge in the southern region of the Gaza Strip, the bombings are still heard throughout the strip.

Earlier, Israel warned Palestinians in northern Gaza to move to the south “within 24 hours.”

In a dramatic escalation of Middle East tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began last Saturday when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air.

Hamas said the operation was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.