ISTANBUL

Nine days of Israeli bombing the Gaza Strip has killed 47 families in Gaza made up of 500 civilians, who are now vanished from civil records, said Palestine’s official news agency on Sunday.

“The Israeli war machinery has been committing horrifying atrocities across the besieged Gaza Strip since the beginning of the full-fledged aggression on the territory on Oct. 7,” WAFA reported.

Citing reports from hospitals in the Gaza Strip, it said they confirmed that “more than 47 families, consisting of over 500 civilian individuals, have been entirely wiped out from the civil registry.”

It added: “This tragic outcome is the result of Israeli occupation forces committing massacres by directly bombing homes with residents inside, in multiple cities and refugee camps across the Gaza Strip.”

Last weekend, in a dramatic escalation of Mideast tensions, Israeli forces launched a sustained military push against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.

The conflict began 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 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 endured a crippling siege since 2007, as well as ordering over 1 million Gazans in the northern strip to evacuate to the south.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi