40 killed in Israeli offensive in Gaza

GAZA/JERUSALEM — Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 40 people on Saturday, as the Israeli military hinted at an approaching call to push civilians from Gaza City ahead of a new offensive, drawing immediate concern.

The toll comes more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture the Palestinian territory's largest city, following 22 months of conflict that have created dire humanitarian conditions.

Ahead of the offensive, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories said that starting from Sunday, the military would supply more tents and shelter equipment.

"As part of the preparations to move the population from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their protection, the supply of tents and shelter equipment to Gaza will resume," it said in a statement.

Hamas later slammed the move, saying the announcement was part of a "brutal assault to occupy Gaza City".

A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern over Israel's plans to relocate people to southern Gaza, saying it would only increase suffering.

Earlier, Gaza's civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in Gaza City's Zeitun neighborhood were rapidly deteriorating, with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment.

The spokesman said that about 50,000 people were estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life".

One million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence, and abuse in Gaza, the United Nations Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, said on Saturday on the social media platform X.

It urged lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale".

Palestinian and United Nations officials have said no place in the enclave is safe, including areas in southern Gaza where Israel has been ordering residents to move to.

In recent days, residents of Gaza City have told Agence France-Presse of more frequent airstrikes targeting residential areas, including Zeitun, while earlier last week Hamas denounced "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions.

Bassal told AFP the number of people killed in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday had risen to 40.

The military said in a statement on Saturday that it is "committed to mitigating civilian harm during operational activity, in strict accordance with international law", questioning the reliability of the death tolls provided by the civil defense agency.

Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to seize Gaza City and neighboring camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory.

Meanwhile, demonstrators took to the streets across Israel on Sunday, calling for an end to the Gaza conflict and a deal to release hostages still held by militants.

Agencies - Xinhua