Some 20 armed Hamas terror operatives, who attempted to carry out a raid against

Some 20 armed Hamas terror operatives, who attempted to carry out a raid against other Gazans in the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, were killed in drone strikes, the military says.

The military publishes footage of the strikes.

Hossam al-Astal, who leads an armed group in the area, told The Times of Israel that his forces had thwarted a Hamas attack on a family with which the terror group is in dispute this morning, with air support from the IDF.

The Israeli military does not mention the armed group in its statement.

The IDF says that after the drone strikes, several Hamas operatives were seen trying to use Palestinian children as human shields. The gunmen were killed in separate strikes minutes later, without harm being caused to the civilians, the military says.

In recent weeks, there have been repeated attempts by Hamas to prevent Palestinian civilians from heading to the humanitarian area in southern Gaza, the military says.

According to the IDF's latest estimates, more than 870,000 Palestinians have evacuated Gaza City to the Strip's south, out of around a million who were residing there before the army's latest offensive against Hamas.