Israeli forces have launched a ground offensive in Gaza City, the military said Friday, expanding their operations as rescuers reported at least 30 killed across the Palestinian territory since dawn.
Since renewed military operations last month ended a short-lived truce in its war with Hamas, Israel has pushed to seize territory in the Gaza Strip in what it said was a strategy to force militants to free hostages still in captivity.
Israel has also escalated attacks on Lebanon, where a US envoy was visiting on Friday, hours after a pre-dawn strike on the port city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander.
In Gaza City, the Israeli army said ground troops were operating in the Shujaiya area “in order to expand the security zone” established by the military inside the Palestinian territory.
“The situation is very dangerous, and there is death coming at us from every direction,” Elena Helles told AFP via text message, saying her family were trapped in her sister’s house in Shujaiya.
Others fled the area following an Israeli evacuation order on Thursday, AFPTV footage showed.
The civil defence agency said Israeli military operations across Gaza killed at least 30 people on Friday.
A single strike on Khan Yunis killed at least 25 people, a medical source at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital told AFP.
Ahmed al-Aqqad, whose family owned the bombarded building, told AFP more bodies may be buried “under the rubble, but we cannot get them out due to the lack of necessary equipment”.
“We call on the entire world to stand together to stop the bloodshed,” said relative Diaa al-Aqqad.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the military would bolster its presence inside Gaza to fight militants and “destroy… terrorist infrastructure”, with unspecified “large areas” to be “incorporated into Israeli security zones”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was dividing Gaza and “seizing territory” to force Hamas to free the remaining Israeli hostages taken captive during the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.
