Gaza, Nov 18 (IANS): At least 26 Palestinians, mostly children, were killed due to an Israeli bombardment of Khan Younis city in south Gaza on Saturday, state media reported.

According to the Palestinian WAFA news agency,t he Israeli aircraft launched several raids on apartments in Khan Younis, which also injured some dozens others.

The Israeli army has not comment on the development, reports Xinhua news agency.

The latest killings comes as Israel issued a new warning to the residents of Khan Younis to relocate.

On Friday night, Mark Regev, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told US media: "I know it’s not easy for them. but we don’t want to see civilians caught up in the crossfire.”

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also announced that it will be launching its operations in south Gaza after it received intelligence reports of several Hamas' top leaders hiding in the region.

With the Gaza Strip being divided into north and south Gaza and IDF taking control of the former, there were intelligence reports that several top Hamas leaders have switched to the south and therefore this move has been anounced.

The IDF has admitted that around eight lakh people from north Gaza are being displaced to southern Gaza.

The UN Relief Welfare Agency (UNRWA) has already said that its centres in south Gaza were flooded with people and that there were several difficulties following this huge forced migration.

The IDF in its statement on late Friday night said that the force is working in a systematic manner and that the Hamas terror outfit would be eradicated soon.