An Israeli attack flattened a high-rise in Gaza city - the second in as many days - after the military demanded that people flee south to a "humanitarian zone" ahead of a planned offensive to capture the area.
Israel has said for weeks that it is planning a new assault on the territory's largest urban centre, without issuing a timeline.
It has stepped up its attacks on the area and operations on the city's outskirts despite calls to abandon the plan which has sparked widespread fears it could worsen already-dire humanitarian conditions from Israel's war.
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The Israeli Defence Forces announced it attack a Gaza city high-rise, claiming "Hamas terrorists installed intelligence gathering equipment and positioned observation posts in the building in order to monitor" Israeli troops.
Witnesses identified the building as the Sussi residential tower and said it was destroyed.
Video shared by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz showed the roughly 15-storey structure buckling to the ground in a cloud of dust and smoke.
"We're continuing," Mr Katz said in the post, after having shared a video the previous day of another Gaza city high-rise being destroyed.
The IDF has said that in the coming days it will continue to target structures it claims are being used by Hamas, particularly tall buildings.
It also demanded that people leave another high-rise ahead of an imminent attack.
A military spokesperson had earlier called on residents to leave the city for Al-Mawasi, along the southern coast, where the IDF claimed humanitarian aid and medical care would be provided.
"Take this opportunity to move early to the (Al-Mawasi) humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already gone there," spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media.
Israel first declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone early in the war but has carried out repeated strikes on it since.
Gaza city residents said they believed it made little difference whether they stayed or fled.
"Some say we should evacuate, others say we should stay," said Abdel Nasser Mushtaha, 48, a resident of the city's Zeitun neighbourhood now sheltering in a tent in the Rimal area.
"But everywhere in Gaza there are bombings and deaths. For the past year-and-a-half, the worst bombings that caused massacres of civilians have been in Al-Mawasi, this so-called humanitarian zone," he added.
"It no longer makes any difference to us," said his daughter Samia Mushtaha, 20.
"Wherever we go, death pursues us, whether by bombing or hunger."
US in 'deep negotiation'
Israel has faced mounting domestic and international pressure to end its nearly two-year war on Gaza.
Hamas agreed last month to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire and staggered hostage releases, but Israel rejected it and has demanded the militant group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.
President Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States was in talks with Hamas over the captives being held in Gaza.
"We're in very deep negotiation with Hamas," Mr Trump said.
"There could be some (hostages) that have recently died, is what I'm hearing. I hope that's wrong, but you have over 30 bodies in this negotiation."
Militants took 251 hostages during the October 2023 attack on Israel. The Israeli military claims 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.
"We said let them all out right now, let them all out, and much better things will happen for them," Mr Trump said.
"But if you don't let them all out, it's going to be a tough situation, it's going to be nasty."
'Disaster'
The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in and around Gaza city, where it declared a famine last month.
It has warned of a looming "disaster" if Israel’s attack proceeds.
The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war.
Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
