DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Israeli airstrikes killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza overnight and into Tuesday, including one that struck an Israeli-declared safe zone crowded with thousands of displaced people.

Airstrikes in recent days have brought a constant drumbeat of deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, even as Israel has pulled back or scaled down major ground offensives in the north and south. Almost daily strikes have hit the safe zone covering some 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) along the Mediterranean coast, where Israel told fleeing Palestinians to take refuge to escape ground assaults. Israel has said it is pursuing Hamas militants who are hiding among civilians after offensives uprooted underground tunnel networks.

Tuesdays deadliest strike hit a main street lined with market stalls outside the southern city of Khan Younis in Muwasi, at the heart of the zone that is packed with tent camps. Officials at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital said 17 people were killed.

Apparently referring to the strike, the Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted a commander in Islamic Jihads naval unit west of Khan Younis. It said it was looking into reports that civilians were killed.