Israeli troops and tanks attacked Gaza's main northern city from both sides today, three days after they began a major ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave that has drawn more international appeals for civilians to be protected.
Israel's military said it had struck more than 600 targets over the past few days as it expanded ground operations in Gaza, where Palestinian civilians are in dire need of fuel, food and clean water as the war enters its fourth week.
Islamist militants said they had repelled an attempted thrust from Israeli tanks into Gaza City from the east and were fighting them on the border with Israel.
"Our duty today is fight and fight," the Islamic Jihad militant group, fighting alongside Gaza's ruling Hamas, said in a statement, adding that now was not the time for a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said it had killed four prominent Hamas operatives.
"IDF troops killed dozens of terrorists who barricaded themselves in buildings and tunnels, and attempted to attack the troops," it said in an update.
Neither side commented on the other's reports.
Israel renewed warnings for civilians to move from the north of the tiny, densely populated enclave to the south as it began an advance into Gaza late on Friday to pursue Hamas militants it says are hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza City.
Many Palestinians have stayed put for fear of becoming homeless like previous generations, and alarmed by Israeli aerial strikes further south.
Fadi, who lives in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City's northern outskirts and declined to give his last name, said the area was now in mortal danger from Israel's ground offensive with tanks rumbling on its fringes. But he vowed not to flee.
"The entire place here is full of people. No one in the entire neighbourhood has left. We are staying," he told Reuters by phone.
"Whether tanks or planes, there will not be another displacement (of Palestinians). That is our decision even if that will mean our martyrdom (death)."
Today, residents said Israeli forces carried out dozens of air strikes on Gaza City's eastern side, with some reporting the roar of tanks rolling in amid exchanges of fire. A social media post appeared to show one tank on the main Salahudeen Road that connects the city to the enclave's south.
Later, residents and the Hamas-run government's media office said the tanks had pulled back towards the fortified boundary fence around Gaza.
Hamas' armed wing said intense mortar fire had pushed them back and fellow militants Islamic Jihad said its fighters were battling Israeli forces there.
To the west, the narrow enclave's coast road was hit again several times from the air and sea and from Israeli forces on the ground to the north, residents said.
The reports could not be immediately verified.
Palestinian health officials said air strikes had hit near three large hospitals in Gaza City today.
The UN humanitarian office OCHA said 117,000 civilians were sheltering alongside patients and doctors in hospitals in the north.
Israel has accused Hamas of placing command centres and weaponry near hospitals, which the group denies.
"Where should we go? It is all one death," said Hatem Sultan, sheltering near Gaza City's al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave's biggest medical centre, where ambulances were constantly arriving with the injured.
In the south, blasts from air strikes shook the town of Rafah near Gaza's only operational border crossing, with Egypt, and east of Khan Younis, where Palestinian media said Hamas clashed with Israeli troops.
A humble plea for ceasefire and peace.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 29, 2023
As a child trapped in the shadows of war, I intimately knew its smell, sounds and sights.
I empathize deeply with those now caught in the middle of conflict, feeling their pain as if it were my own.
War brings only devastation, horror,…
Clashes in West Bank
Israel has said 1,400 people were killed and 229 taken hostage when Hamas-led militants burst over the border and rampaged through nearby Israeli towns and kibbutzes on 7 October, the deadliest single attack in Israel's 75-year history.
Hamas has released four hostages so far and said 50 have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes.
Medical authorities in Gaza, where 2.3 million people are crammed into an enclave 45km long, said on today that 8,306 people - including 3,457 minors - had been killed.
OCHA said rescuers were hard-pressed to reach stricken people.
"As of 29 October about 1,800 people, including at least 940 children, have been reported missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery," it said.
Analysis: Hamas persists in Gaza despite Israel's efforts to 'annihilate' them
Read more: Long-running tensions between the UN and Israel boiled over this week
The UN agency also said armed groups continued firing rockets at Israel indiscriminately, with no fatalities reported.
The Israeli defence ministry issued video footage of what it said were manoeuvres inside Gaza showing soldiers in buildings, tanks on a main road, and air strikes on what it said were buildings occupied by Hamas.
The timing or location of the video has not been verified and Israel's military said it would not reveal where it was filmed.
"We are moving from the ground, spotting the terrorists and attacking from the air.
"There is also direct engagement between ground forces and terrorists," military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they were also fighting Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
The Palestinian health ministry said four people were killed there today and Israel said an air strike killed several fighters.
Airport unrest in Russia
The conflict has spurred large demonstrations worldwide in support of the Palestinians and antisemitic and Islamophobic harassment and attacks are increasing.
Twenty people were wounded at the airport before security forces contained the unrest, local authorities said. The passengers on the plane were safe, security forces told Reuters.
Israel's widening ground attacks on Gaza have spurred international calls for a "humanitarian pause" to allow aid in.
Qatar-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas continued yesterday, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters, and included discussions about the possible release of hostages.
Hamas wants a five-day pause in Israel's operations to allow aid and fuel into Gaza in return for the release of all civilian hostages held by the militants, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
More than half the hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 countries, the Israeli government says.
OCHA said 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies had entered Gaza yesterday, the biggest delivery so far, but that much bigger daily deliveries were required to meet urgent needs and prevent civil unrest. People stormed aid stores yesterday in search of food.
US President Joe Biden has warned Iran, which backs Hamas and other militant groups in the region, not to stir up the conflict.
Iran said that Washington should stop blaming it for the violence.
There are fears that the war will spill over into the region, including in Lebanon, where the Israeli army and Iranian-backed Hezbollah group have been exchanging fire.
