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Six children were among at least 20 people killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza StripÌýon Wednesday, as Israeli forces intensified attacks on the besieged and devastated north of the territory.

Three Israeli strikes across the central Gaza Strip killed at least 11 peopleÌý - including six children and one medic, according to Palestinian medics who received the bodies at the Awda Hospital. Five of the dead had been queuing outside a bakery, the medics said.

At least 15 other people - mostly children, were wounded by the strikes.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Late on Tuesday, Israeli forces fired on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth successive day, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said, adding that three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically.

"Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure and anyone that dares to move," Abu Safiya told °®Âþµº's sister siteÌýAl-Araby Al-Jadeed. "This situation is extremely urgent."

Residents in three townsÌý in the northern Gaza Strip- Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses in a bid to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza.

Israeli forces escalated their targeting of the densely-populated Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, using drones to target anyone moving in the area, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Israeli forces planted explosive barrels between buildings, the report added.

On Wednesday, Israeli tanks advanced into northern parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, following new expulsion orders issued by the Israeli forces​​​​​​, following unverified claims that rockets were being fired from the area.

With shells falling near residential areas, families left their homes and headed westwards towards the humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi nearby.

Israel's brutal onslaught on Gaza has killed over 44,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.