At least 23 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, local health officials have said, as the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents across the enclave.
The Israeli military resumed its campaign against Hamas in Gaza a week ago, shattering a two-month ceasefire.
Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, Palestinian health officials say.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has already been displaced by the fighting multiple times during nearly 18 months of war and is facing worsening shortages of food and water after Israel suspended aid deliveries earlier this month.
This morning, the Israeli army told residents in all northern border towns to evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets had been fired at Israel from the area.
The affected towns include Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Shejaia in Gaza City. Orders were also issued for areas in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.
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Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the renewed offensive aimed to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining 59 hostages it is holding in Gaza.
About 24 of them are believed to be still alive.
Hamas, which accuses Israel of abandoning the 19 January ceasefire deal, said it was cooperating with a new effort, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to restore calm and conclude the three-phase ceasefire agreement.
According to some Hamas sources, there has been no breakthrough.
UN cutting international staff in Gaza by a third
It comes as the United Nations is cutting its international staff in Gaza by around a third, a UN spokesperson said, citing safety concerns.
"We are trying to reduce the number of international staff by about one third and this is really because the Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) doesn't have the power of guaranteeing the safety of UN staff," UN spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva press briefing, saying that this meant around 30 of 100 international staff.
The agencies affected included the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the UN children's agency, she added.
Earlier this week, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese said that "no one is safe in Gaza".
She said over 250 UN staff have been killed in Gaza alone since October 2023, and almost 70% of UN premises have been destroyed.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Albanese said: "This is a total elimination that will continue until the last breath of Palestinian life is gone in Gaza."
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, said Israel will take more territory in Gaza and fight until Hamas is wiped out if the Palestinian militant group keeps refusing to free remaining hostages.
He spoke as mediators continued efforts to salvage Gaza's ceasefire deal shattered by Israel's renewal of air and ground war on 18 March after it and Hamas failed to agree on terms for an extension of the two-month-old truce.
Israel has said it will never again accept Hamas governance and military power in Gaza following the 7 October 2023 cross-border attack.
The Israeli military said last week that its forces had begun a focused ground operation in the central and southern Gaza Strip after it resumed bombardments in the besieged enclave that have killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objective of the new campaign is to force the Islamist militants to release remaining hostages.
"If Hamas continues with its intransigence, it will pay heavy prices that get higher and higher in the taking of territory (by Israel) and in taking out militants and terror infrastructure until its complete surrender," Mr Katz said in a video reported by Israeli media.
The latest offensive has been among the deadliest since the conflict began 17 months ago, splintering a shaky ceasefire that had largely prevailed since it went into effect on 19 January.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed over 50,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to the local health ministry.
The Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 killed 1,200 with the group taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
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