The advance of Israeli forces meant that in the north and east of the city, civilians could no longer travel along the Salah al-Din road that runs through the Palestinian territory, it said. The road "constitutes a battlefield, so it is extremely dangerous to go there", it warned.
Israel launches ground operation in southern Gaza
Israel has said that its ground forces were operating against Hamas in southern Gaza also, its clearest indication yet that a planned ground offensive in the enclave's heavily crowded south had begun as Israeli bombing killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians across Gaza Strip.
Israel struck Gaza targets as international concern deepened over mounting civilian deaths on the third day of fighting after a truce ended.
More than 15,500 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, in more than eight weeks of combat and heavy bombardment.
https://twitter.com/Kahlissee/status/1731513634281459770
Israeli air and artillery strikes hit Gaza's northern frontier with Israel, throwing thick clouds of smoke and dust into the sky.
The Israeli army reported 17 rocket salvos from Gaza into Israel on Sunday, adding that most were intercepted and there was only slight material damage.
Israel said two of its soldiers had died in combat, the first since the week-long truce expired on Friday.
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Hospitals in southern Gaza overflowed with dead and wounded, some crying out in pain. "I am running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here," James Elder, a spokesman for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, said in a video from Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.
"This is the worst bombardment of the war right now in south Gaza. I am seeing massive child casualties," he said in remarks on the social media platform X.
Nine-year-old Huda, who was wounded in the head, arrived at the Deir al-Balah Hospital with an International Committee of the Red Cross convoy bringing casualties from northern Gaza.
"She doesn't answer me anymore," her father Abdelkarim Abu Warda said, sobbing.
https://twitter.com/InsiderWorld_1/status/1731438349301252361
Israeli army says taking 'aggressive' action in southern Gaza
The Israeli army said Monday it was taking "aggressive" action against "Hamas and other terrorist organisations" in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where it has been widely expected to begin ground operations.
Hamas-led health ministry says Gaza deaths rise to 15,899
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip on Monday said 15,899 people had died in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel, with 42,000 wounded.
Among the victims, 70 percent were women and children, it added. Israel has been targeting Gaza with an air and ground campaign in response to an attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7 in which around 1,200 were killed and 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities
- 'No safe place' -
The war broke out when Hamas militants burst through Gaza's militarised border into Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while also taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel responded with an air and ground campaign that Gaza authorities say has killed mostly women and children.
The seven-day pause in fighting, brokered by Qatar with support from Egypt and the United States, led to the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
More than two dozen other captives were freed from Gaza outside the scope of the truce deal.
The Israeli military said it had carried out around 10,000 air strikes since the war started.
https://twitter.com/PalestineNW/status/1731441033878057155
The army also said it had located more than 800 shafts to Hamas tunnels and "destroyed" about 500 of them, adding that many were near or inside civilian buildings such as schools and mosques.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk voiced alarm that hundreds of thousands of Gazans were "being confined into ever smaller areas" in the south of the territory.
"There is no safe place in Gaza," he said.
The Israeli military said a drone strike had "eliminated" five Hamas militants.
https://twitter.com/updates_gaza/status/1731489297088578028
Fighter jets and helicopters had also struck "tunnel shafts, command centres and weapons storage facilities" while naval forces hit Hamas vessels and weapons, it said.
Fighting also flared on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
The Israeli army said it had launched artillery strikes in response to cross-border fire, and its fighter jets hit a number of targets linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Iran-backed Hezbollah said it had launched several attacks on Israeli positions, including a missile strike on a military vehicle.
https://twitter.com/RamAbdu/status/1731460524884328859
- 'Too many' innocents killed -
Israel's ally the United States, which provides it with billions of dollars in military aid annually, has intensified calls for the protection of Gaza's civilians.
"Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," Vice-President Kamala Harris told reporters at UN climate talks in Dubai.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said that the blame for the deaths lay with Hamas and those killed "would still be alive" had the group not carried out the October 7 attacks.
In a new estimate, OCHA said around 1.8 million people in Gaza, roughly 75 percent of the population, had been displaced, many to overcrowded and unsanitary shelters.
Gazans are short of food, water and other essentials, and the aid reaching them is "a drop in the ocean of needs," said Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Pope Francis deplored "so much suffering in Gaza", and urged those involved to reach a new ceasefire deal.
A little girl is holding Quran and saying 'YaALLAH protect me'.
— Sadia Saeed (@SadiaSa55) December 3, 2023
YaALLAH she is calling YOU.
They have faith in YOU... please help Palestine. #غزة_الآن#PanteneAltinkelebek#GazaHolocaust#GazaGenocide#Gaza#FreePalestine#IsrealiNewNazism pic.twitter.com/2Acx4js4eG
- 'Return them safely' -
On Saturday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israeli negotiators were being withdrawn from Qatar "following the impasse in the negotiations" aimed at renewing the truce.
As fighting continues, Hamas has ruled out more hostage releases until a permanent ceasefire is agreed.
"The price to pay for the release of Zionist (Israeli) prisoners will be the release of all our prisoners -– after a ceasefire," Saleh al-Aruri, deputy head of Hamas's politburo, said on Saturday, referring to thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
There are still 137 hostages held in Gaza, Israel's army said.
"We will not endanger the abductees and we will do everything to return them safely," military spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
Hear their screams. Hear their anguish. This pain has replayed 1000 times over to mourn 1000 people killed in just 24 hours in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/KaK1INMAqw
— Khadija (@khadljasays) December 3, 2023
Netanyahu said the war would continue "until we achieve all its aims" -- among them freeing the hostages -- and that soldiers had prepared during the truce "for total victory against Hamas".
Britain's defence ministry said that it would conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza "in support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity".
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday drew on his experience fighting the Islamic State group in urging Israel to protect non-combatants.
"The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians," he told a forum in California.
Most Gazans are trapped, but an Egyptian border crossing, after a closure on Friday, reopened to enable 880 foreign and dual nationals to cross on Saturday along with 13 injured people, the UN said.
https://twitter.com/updates_gaza/status/1731522100337443306
At least 160 killed in two strikes -
The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) said at least 160 Palestinian fatalities were reported in two incidents in northern Gaza Saturday: the bombing of a six-storey building in Jabalia refugee camp, and of an entire block in Gaza City.
Since the start of the war, at least 15,523 people have been killed and more than 41,000 others wounded, according to the latest figures issued Sunday by Gaza's health ministry.
The White House believes Israel was "making an effort" to minimise civilian deaths, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told US media.
"We believe they have been receptive to our messages here of trying to minimalise civilian casualties," he said, including by publishing online a map of places where Gazans could go to find safety.
- Israel says killed Hamas fighters -
In a summary of activity issued on Sunday, Israel's military said a drone strike had "eliminated" five Hamas fighters.
In an additional statement, the army said "about 500" tunnel shafts of Hamas's underground array "have been destroyed" since the war began.
"Soldiers continue operations to destroy Hamas's underground network of tunnels," it said, where Israeli officials claim some of the Palestinian group's leaders have been hiding.
And "approximately 10,000 air strikes were carried out" in Gaza during the fighting, the army said.
At least 17 rocket salvo were fired from Gaza towards Israel on Sunday, the Israeli army said, adding that most were intercepted and only caused minor material damage.
- More Gazans displaced -
In a new estimate, OCHA said about 1.8 million people -- roughly 75 percent of Gaza's population -- are internally displaced, up from an earlier figure of 1.7 million.
"However, obtaining an accurate count is challenging," OCHA said in a report.
- Israel-Lebanon border tensions -
The Israeli military said its air and artillery forces struck in Lebanon in response to "a number of launches" across the border.
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally, said it had launched at least five attacks including a guided missile strike on an Israeli "military vehicle".
Official Lebanese media said "enemy artillery shelling" and heavy bombardment hit border area villages, also reporting air strikes with at least one "enemy drone".
- UK surveillance flights -
Britain's military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to help locate hostages still held by Hamas, London's defence ministry confirmed on the weekend.
"Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages," the ministry said.
The flights will take place over the eastern Mediterranean, including above Israel and Gaza, it said.