Israeli strikes on S Gaza kill 51

GAZA, Oct 02 (BBC): Israeli air strikes and a ground operation targeting the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza have killed at least 51 people, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Tanks reportedly advanced into some parts of the city and its surrounding area on Tuesday night, with residents reporting gunfire and heavy shelling.

One wounded man who made it to hospital told the BBC "tanks stormed in" to his village without warning.

Separately, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck Hamas targets located in three schools sheltering displaced people in central and northern Gaza overnight.

The IDF said Hamas members were operating inside "command and control centres" embedded inside Muscat, Rimal and Bureij Preparatory schools.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least nine civilians were killed at Muscat school, in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, and that six others were killed at the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans, in the Rimal neighbourhood.

Later, the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans said in a Facebook post that eight people were killed and a large number wounded, including children and women, when an Israeli strike hit one of its buildings housing hundreds of displaced civilians.

Israel's continued strikes into Gaza came a day after it repelled a barrage of missiles from Iran and launched a ground invasion into Lebanon. It has described Tuesday's advance into Lebanon as a "limited" operation, targeting sites belonging to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after a year of cross-border fighting.