Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 16 Palestinians, including four women and seven children, and orphaned another four children, Palestinian medical officials said on Tuesday.

Ten people were killed in a strike late on Monday on a house near the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel ordered mass evacuations in recent days, saying it must act against Palestinian militants.

Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought, said another four children, including a three-month-old infant, were wounded.

Israeli police prevent a Jewish worshipper from breaking through the police barrier to enter Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, which Jews revere the site as the Temple Mount
Israeli police prevent a Jewish worshipper from breaking through the police barrier to enter Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

The infant’s parents and their other five children were among those killed.

The parents of the other three wounded children were also killed, according to the hospital’s list of casualties.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies.

A separate strike near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed a woman and her twin babies, who were four-days-old, along with their grandmother.

Another strike in central Gaza also killed a man and his nephew.

An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and spoke to the father of the twins, who had planned to register their birth on Tuesday.

Israel Palestinians
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, centre, flanked by his security detail, approaching the entrance to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because its fighters operate in residential areas.

The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Meanwhile, Turkey on Tuesday denounced a visit to a Jerusalem holy site by Israeli groups, including a far-right minister, as a “provocation” that could further escalate tensions in the region.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said the “provocative action” had shown that Israel has “no intention of reaching peace”.

The ministry once again called on the international community to take action to stop the Israeli government’s “brutality”.

On Tuesday, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined hundreds of mostly religious and ultra-nationalist Jews in visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and encouraged prayer there.

The site is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Under a long-standing, informal arrangement known as the status quo, Jews are allowed to visit the site but not pray there.

“The storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by hundreds of radical Israelis, including ministers, under police protection is a provocation that violates the historical status of Jerusalem and will further escalate the tension in our region,” the Turkish ministry said.

When asked about the prayer, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said the status quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites shouldn’t be disturbed, and “this sort of behaviour is unhelpful, and it is unduly provocative”.