GAZA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, has surpassed 63,000, with at least 48 fatalities reported on Friday, according to Gaza's health authorities and civil defense.

In a press statement, the health authorities said that 59 bodies and 244 wounded were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, adding that many victims remain under the rubble as ambulances and civil defense crews face difficulties reaching them due to continued bombardments and a shortage of resources.

The statement said the total death toll of Palestinians since the start of the conflict has climbed to 63,025, with 159,490 others injured.

Since Israel resumed its military operations on March 18, 11,178 people have been killed and 47,449 wounded, it added.

The health authorities said that among those killed on Thursday were 23 people who died while attempting to obtain relief aid. This brought the death toll of aid seekers in Gaza to 2,203.

The authorities also reported that five people, including two children, died in the past 24 hours due to starvation and malnutrition, raising the death toll linked to food shortages to 322, including 121 children.

Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defense said at least 48 Palestinians were killed on Friday by Israeli army in various places in Gaza.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman of the Gaza Civil Defense, told Xinhua that 18 people were killed since dawn in Israeli shelling on Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

He said the attacks struck tents sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area.

In northern Gaza, five people were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a house in Jabalia al-Nazla, while six others, including a child, were killed in separate attacks on the Zeitoun, Sheikh Radwan and other neighborhoods, Basal said.

He added that six others were shot dead near aid distribution centers in central and southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that it had begun "preliminary operations and the initial stages" of its offensive on Gaza City, vowing to continue its campaign against Hamas.

"We have begun the preliminary operations and initial stages of the attack on Gaza City, and we are currently operating with great intensity on the outskirts of the city," the army said in a press statement.

It added that Israeli forces would "deepen the strikes and will not hesitate until the abductees are returned and Hamas is dismantled militarily and governmentally."

Also on Friday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned that Israel's intensified military operation in the Gaza City could put about one million people at risk of forced displacement.

Israel has been carrying out a large-scale military operation in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.