ISTANBUL

At least 300 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting 180 UN facilities in the Gaza Strip, including some direct hits, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday.

UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma said on X: "1.4 million people in Gaza sheltering in UNRWA facilities and many more in the vicinity, sleeping outside."

In a separate statement on X, the UN agency said Sunday that "while the world is crowded with New Year's celebrations, the streets of southern Gaza Strip are crowded with displacement."

"The past year brought profound devastation and tragedy to Palestine Refugees facing war, extreme violence, displacement and poverty," the agency said in another statement.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 21,822 Palestinians have since been killed and 56,451 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara