The Hamas Health Ministry announced on Thursday that the death toll in the Gaza Strip so far in the war that began more than seven months ago has risen to 36,224.

At least 53 people were killed in the last 24 hours, while 81,777 people have been wounded since 7 October, the ministry said in a statement.

Despite international outrage over Sunday's deadly bombing of a displaced persons camp in Rafah, the Israeli army is continuing the offensive it launched on 7 May, claiming to wipe out the last remaining Hamas battalions in the overcrowded southern Gaza Strip town.

On Wednesday, Rafah was rocked by street clashes and shelling, a day after Israeli tanks entered the city centre.

According to the UN, nearly one million Palestinians have fled Rafah in three weeks. Most of them are IDPs who have been forced to flee once again to already overcrowded areas of the besieged territory.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed to have discovered ‘about twenty tunnels’ in Gaza, suspected of being used by armed groups in the border area for smuggling into the Palestinian territories.

Egypt, on the other hand, denied the existence of tunnels under the border, claiming that Israel was trying to justify its offensive in Rafah.