At least 70 people died in a hospital in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, after being served there following Israel’s shelling of the town of Khan Younes on Saturday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced.

Dozens of patients, including children and teenagers, were treated for “severe burns” at Nasser Hospital, the non-governmental organization said late Sunday, citing staff at the hospital.

The city of Khan Younes located about 1 kilometer from the hospital, MSF added, noting that a total of 122 patients were treated in Nasser after the Israeli strike.

“The hospital is overcrowded,” MSF said.

By yesterday afternoon the hospital had announced that almost 50 people had died. A photojournalist told dpa that he saw rows of body bags.

The Israeli military has not commented on the information.

Israel has been calling for weeks for Palestinians to leave the northern Gaza Strip and move south, saying they will be safer there.

But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad announced on Saturday that strikes against the Palestinian enclave would soon expand to the south.

According to UN figures, around 20,000 people moved further south yesterday alone.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said today that the figure is based on estimates by the agency’s monitors on the ground. Most people traveled in buses or donkey-drawn carriages, while others traveled on foot.

More than 1.7 million people are now displaced in the Gaza Strip, about three-quarters of the enclave’s total population.