AT LEAST 135 people, including children sleeping in tents, were killed over the weekend in relentless bombardment of Gaza, as all public hospitals in the north were rendered out of service. 

It came as the Israeli military said that it has begun extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of its Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which it claims aims to seize territory, displace large segments of the population to Gaza’s south and assert greater control over the distribution of humanitarian aid.

Among the dead were three journalists and 18 children, according to medical sources, after Israeli warplanes struck a tent encampment sheltering displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.