Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed 23 people, including at least three children, in Gaza, its civil defence agency has said.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that his services "transported 23 martyrs, including several children and women" killed in various locations around Gaza.
The Israeli military told AFP it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting "to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" in a campaign launched to root out the militant group after its October 2023 attack on Israel.
Mr Bassal said two children were killed in an airstrike on their home in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood in the early morning, adding "the house was completely destroyed".
A family member, 45-year-old Abdel Rahman Azzam, told AFP he was at home when he "heard a huge explosion at my relative's house".
"I rushed out in panic and saw the house destroyed and on fire," he said.
"We evacuated more than 20 injured people, including two martyrs - two children from the family. The screams of children and women were non-stop," he added.
Mr Azzam said: "They bombed the house with a missile without any prior warning.
"This is a horrific crime. We sleep without knowing if we will wake up."
Mr Bassal also said a drone strike on a tent housing displaced people near the southern city of Khan Younis killed five people, including a child, while four more people were killed by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, also in the south.
Restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
The Israeli military said in a statement that a 20-year-old soldier was killed "during combat in the northern Gaza Strip".
The military had issued an evacuation order earlier in the day for parts of Gaza City and nearby areas in the territory's north.
The military "will operate with intense force in these areas and these military operations will intensify and expand ... to destroy the capabilities of the terrorist organisations", military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X.
He told residents to "evacuate immediately" to the Al-Mawasi area on the southern coast.
The civil defence agency later said an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza City, killing three people.
AFP video footage filmed from southern Israel showed large plumes of smoke rising from northern Gaza.
A resident in the northern town of Jabalia, 60-year-old Ahmed Arar, said his family's house was destroyed after they received a warning it would be bombed from a person identifying himself as an Israeli army officer.
"About half an hour later, they bombed the house and it was completely destroyed," he told AFP by telephone.
He said the family had already evacuated the house several days ago due to repeated shelling and airstrikes.
Watch: Evacuation orders as Trump says 'make the deal in Gaza'
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Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
After claiming victory in a 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it would refocus on its offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold Israeli hostages.
Meanwhile the Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel's offensive.
A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
But in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area.
Palestinian and UN officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
"The (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations," the military said.
The evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts.
Watch: Evacuation orders as Trump says 'make the deal in Gaza'
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US President Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
"Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back," Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform earlier.
The escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
Interest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened in the wake of US and Israeli bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group's outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Hamas said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war.
Israel says it can only end it if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show.
Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population, plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and left much of it in ruins.
