JERUSALEM (news agencies) — Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday as more people fled the devastated area, and strikes cut off phone and internet services, making it harder for Palestinians to summon ambulances during the military’s new offensive.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 65,000, local health officials said.
The Israeli military said air force and artillery units have struck the city more than 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes toppled high-rise towers in areas with densely populated tent camps. Israel claims the towers were being used by Hamas to watch troops.
Regulators said the severed phone and internet services hindered the ability of Palestinians to call for help, coordinate evacuations or share details of the offensive that began Monday and aims to take full control of the city.
Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, hospital officials reported. The death count in Gaza climbed to 65,062, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government. Another 165,697 Palestinians have been wounded since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that triggered the war.
The ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or militants. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts.
Israeli bombardment has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.
Palestinians streamed out of the city — some by car, others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days beginning Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.
Israeli forces have carried out multiple large-scale raids into Gaza City over the course of the war, only to see militants regroup later. This time, Israel has pledged to take control of the entire city.
More than half of the Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes were in Gaza City, including a child and his mother who died in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.
In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, killing three, including a pregnant woman. Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi area west of the city of Khan Younis, said officials from Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians and that it would continue to operate against “terrorist organizations” in Gaza.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in the 2023 attack, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive.
The Gaza Health Ministry said multiple Israeli strikes hit the Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City on Tuesday night. It posted pictures on Facebook showing the damaged roof, water tanks and rubble in a hospital hallway.
The ministry said the strikes forced half of some 80 patients to flee the facility. About 40 patients, including four children in intensive care and eight premature babies, remained in the hospital with 30 medical workers, the ministry said.
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