Gaza's civil defence agency has said that an Israeli operation in and around the territory's second city of Khan Younis killed about 300 people since it began last week.

"Since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Younis province, the civil defence and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed," agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Tuesday.

The Israeli military launched the assault on July 22, which already saw heavy fighting earlier this year.

Last week, it said troops had retrieved the bodies of five Israelis from the area.

On Tuesday, the military said it had completed the operation in the area of Khan Younis and had killed "over 150 terrorists".

Hundreds missing

According to Gaza's Civil Defense Agency, around 200 people have been missing.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7.

At least 39,400 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its attacks in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.