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Israeli air strikes and ground operations are focused on the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis, where the United Nations said that nine people were killed by tank shelling at one of its shelters yesterday.
The deadly incident came after the Israeli army said it had encircled the city, where footage released by the military showed soldiers engaged in urban combat amid ruined buildings.
Hamas’s press office also reported fierce clashes in the centre and west of Khan Yunis, while its health ministry counted multiple deaths overnight from strikes in the city and elsewhere in the territory.
It said four children were killed in the Nuseirat camp in an early morning bombardment today.
Yesterday’s attack on the UN shelter for displaced people saw the site hit by two tank rounds, killing nine and injuring 75, said Thomas White, Gaza head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the number of dead was likely to rise.
“Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war,” Mr Lazzarini said on social media, adding that the compound had been clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates shared with Israeli authorities.
Interim UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories James McGoldrick told reporters that “buildings were ablaze” at the shelter in the aftermath of the strike.
“Many people are trying to flee the scene but unable to do so,” he said.
When asked about the incident, the Israeli army said that “a thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is under way”, adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a “result of Hamas fire”.
The United States condemned the attack, with State Department spokesman Vedant Patel saying “civilians must be protected and the protected nature of UN facilities must be respected”.
‘No military solution’ in Gaza – protester
The Gaza war began with Hamas’s unprecedented 7 October attack, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 250 hostages, and Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 hostages.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless military offensive that has killed at least 25,700 people in Gaza, about 70% of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced mounting calls for a ceasefire, with domestic pressure intensifying after 24 soldiers were killed on Monday in the army’s deadliest single day since it launched ground operations in Gaza.
Citing Israeli officials, the New York Times said 21 of those soldiers died in an operation to demolish part of a Palestinian neighbourhood in order to create a “buffer zone” inside Gaza along the Israeli border.
In Tel Aviv, Israeli protesters carried a banner saying “Stop the bloodshed” and blocked a road during a demonstration to demand a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
“We came to say to the government, ‘It’s enough.’ We want all the hostages back home, we want a ceasefire now,” said protester Sapir Sluzker Amran.
“There is no military solution, only a diplomatic solution – only agreements will bring the hostages back.”
Mr Netanyahu, however, has been adamant the war will continue, telling parliament that the fighting would persist until the “aggression and evil” of Hamas were destroyed.
“This is a war for our home,” he said.
US envoy in hostage talks
US President Joe Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is in the region for talks aimed at brokering a new deal to free the remaining captives in exchange for a pause in fighting.
A Palestinian source said that a Hamas delegation had travelled to Cairo on Tuesday to meet Egypt’s intelligence chief and discuss new ceasefire proposals.
Egypt and Qatar have acted as mediators in the conflict, including in November, when a brief truce agreement led to the release of 105 hostages.
But Mr Netanyahu was reportedly caught on tape telling hostages’ families this week that Qatar’s mediation was “problematic”, blaming it for funding Hamas.
The Gulf state said it was “appalled” at the remarks, which “if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives”.
The Gaza war has spurred fears of a wider escalation, with a surge in violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies across the Middle East.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Huthi rebels fired three missiles at two merchant ships in the Red Sea in their latest attack in the commercially vital waterway, with the White House saying one missile missed its target and a US Navy destroyer shot down the other two.
The Huthis later confirmed their responsibility for the attack, vowing to continue targeting ships despite repeated US and British strikes against them.
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