In Gaza City, nine members of the same family have been killed in an Israeli attack on a residential building, reports the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Deadly attacks are also being reported from Nuseirat and al-Bureij, a bit further south. In Jabalia – where Israel launched a new offensive over the weekend – dozens of dead bodies are said to be lying on the streets, but constant fighting and Israeli attacks are preventing rescue workers from reaching them.
It's hell. We can't get out, says Jabalia resident Mohamed Awda, outside whose house three bodies are lying, to AP via phone.
In the background, explosions can be heard, writes the news agency.
The drones are everywhere and shooting at everyone. You can't even open a window, says Awda.
"Constant siege"
Another resident of Jabalia, Amal Nasr, tells AFP that her husband and daughter were shot in the leg and neck, respectively, when they tried to flee. On their way to the hospital, they saw the injured lying along the streets.
Israel has ordered the population in northern Gaza to evacuate south, but it's difficult. At least 400,000 people are practically trapped in northern Gaza, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa. There are no safe places to flee to, according to chief Philippe Lazzarini.
"Northern Gaza: no end to hell", he writes on X.
The intensified attacks are causing great fear and anxiety among the civilian population, says Ahmad al-Kahlut, head of Gaza's civil defense in the northern part of the strip, to AFP.
Roads have been closed off. There has been a constant siege for four days now and no supplies have reached northern Gaza.
Fighting is also raging in Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun, according to al-Kahlut.
Operations postponed
In total, over 40 people have been killed in Israel's latest attacks, according to the authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Several of them are children, writes AP.
Israel has ordered that a number of hospitals be closed due to the escalated fighting.
The situation is tense. We have declared an emergency, postponed planned operations, and discharged patients whose condition is stable, says Fadel Naeem, head of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, to AP.
Israel's latest offensive – and attempts to forcibly displace residents south – are turning northern Gaza into a "lifeless desert" and exacerbating the situation in the southern parts of the strip, notes Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
"Now it's enough. This must come to an end", writes the organization's project coordinator Sarah Vuylsteke in a press release.
