Israeli forces widened their raid into northern Gaza and tanks reached the north edge of Gaza City, pounding some districts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
In the early hours of Monday, an Israeli air strike killed three people and wounded 40 others when it hit some tents of displaced Palestinians near Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it struck a terror command center inside the compound. Israel has accused Hamas of using civilian facilities such as hospitals for military purposes. Terror organisation Hamas has denied the claim.
Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the enclave from Gaza City. This has blocked access between two areas except upon permission for families willing to heed evacuation orders.
Nine days into the operation, Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israeli strikes killed around 300 Palestinians. It said Israel’s bombardment of civilian houses and displacement shelters was intended to force residents to leave Gaza once and for all, which Israel denies.
Later on Sunday, Israeli tank shelling killed at least 22 Palestinians at a school sheltering displaced families in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said at least 15 children and women were among those killed in the school. It added that 80 other people were wounded.
Hours earlier an Israeli airstrike killed five children in The Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. The Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said the children were playing near a cafe when they were killed by a missile fired from an Israeli drone.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the two reports.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, citing U.N. reports that no food has entered northern Gaza in nearly two weeks, stated on social media that “Israel must urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need.”
While the main assault is on the north, Israel is also striking other areas across the Gaza Strip. The health ministry reported at least 34 people killed so far on Sunday.
Many Jabalia residents posted on social media platforms: “We will not leave, we die, and we don’t leave.”
The northern part of Gaza, home to well over half the territory’s 2.3 million people, was bombed to rubble in the first phase of Israel’s assault on the territory a year ago, after the October 7 attacks on Israeli towns by militants who killed 1,200 people and captured 250 hostages.
After a year of Israeli assaults that killed 42,000 Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of residents have come back to ruined northern areas. Israel sent troops back more than a week ago to root out fighters it said were regrouping for more attacks.
The escalation in northern Gaza has taken place alongside a huge Israeli air assault and ground campaign on a separate front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah, which like Hamas is an ally of Iran.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that forces operating throughout the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours had attacked about 40 targets and killed dozens of terrorists.
The armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and smaller other factions said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and nearby areas with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in Gaza. They have also voiced concerns over severe shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies in northern Gaza, and said there is a risk of famine there.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
