Israeli forces have pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area.
The latest attacks come as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet is set to discuss a plan to seize the city.
Local health authorities said Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 18 people, including 13 who tried to get food from near an aid site in central Gaza, and at least two in a house in Gaza City.
The Israeli military spokesperson’s office said they were reviewing the reports.
Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighbourhoods of Gaza City, said the territory had been under Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes throughout yesterday and today, forcing families to seek shelter in the western parts of the city.
The Israeli military has gradually escalated its operations around Gaza City over the past three weeks, and on Friday it ended temporary pauses in the area that had allowed for aid deliveries, designating it a “dangerous combat zone”.
“They are crawling into the heart of the city where hundreds of thousands are sheltering, from the east, north, and south, while bombing those areas from the air and ground to scare people to leave,” said one resident from Sheikh Radwan.
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An Israeli official said Mr Netanyahu’s security cabinet will convene this evening to discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as Hamas’ last bastion.
A full-scale offensive is not expected to start for weeks. Israel says it wants to evacuate the civilian population before moving more ground forces in.
Hamas confirms death of Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar
Meanwhile, Hamas has confirmed the death of Mohammed Sinwar, its presumed leader in Gaza, more than three months after Israel said it had killed him in an airstrike.
Pictures released by the Palestinian Islamist group yesterday showed him alongside other political and military leaders described as “martyrs of the military council”.
Mohammed Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
He reportedly led the Al-Qassam Brigades’ military council after the death of commander Mohammed Deif.
Israel said it had identified Mohammed Sinwar’s body in June in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, central Gaza. The military said it had “eliminated” him on May 13.
The war began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 251 taken hostage. Twenty of the remaining 48 hostages are believed to still be alive.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, and it has plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and left much of it in ruins.