Israeli strikes kill at least 30 Palestinians in Gaza

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics say, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave.

An air strike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since October 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said.

The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the toll. Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.

The Israeli military said, without giving details, that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been eliminated, it said.

Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

Later on Tuesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Beit Lahiya ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing displaced families to quit the town completely.

"To all those who remained at homes and shelters, you are risking your lives. For your safety you have to head south," said the leaflet, which was written in Arabic.

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.

"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.

Israel's military says it makes efforts to minimise harm to Gaza's civilians as its troops battle Palestinian militants who use shelters and hospitals to stage attacks against its forces. Hamas denies this.

More than 70 patients and their guardians were safely evacuated from Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals to other medical facilities in Gaza, Israel said on Monday, while fuel, water and medical supplies were delivered to the hospitals.

Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says it is trying to keep civilians out of harm's way as it fights Hamas there.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since October 5 at 1800, with 4000 others wounded.

There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating death tolls.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.

This represented only six per cent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.

"This cannot meet the needs of three million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.

An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.