Israel Troops Advance On Gaza City

Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza on Monday, advancing on two sides of the territory's main city, as the

UN

and medical staff warned that

air strikes

have hit closer to hospitals where tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter alongside thousands of wounded. Video circulating on social media showed an Israeli tank and bulldozer in central Gaza blocking the territory's main highway, which the Israeli military in recent weeks has suggested Palestinians use to evacuate to south.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in the north would no longer be able to escape if the road is blocked.

The video, taken by a local journalist, shows a car approaching an earth barrier across the road. The car stops and turns around. As it heads away, a tank appears to open fire, and an explosion engulfs the car. The journalist, in another car, races away in terror, screaming, "Go back! Go back!" at an approaching ambulance and other vehicles. The Gaza health ministry later said three people were killed in the car that was hit. The Israeli military declined to comment on where its forces were deployed.
The Israeli military has been vague about its operations inside Gaza, including the location and number of troops. But the movements of recent days, including stepped-up ground operations both north and east of Gaza City, combined with calls for residents to head south, point to a focus on the city. Israel says much of Hamas' forces and militant infrastructure, including hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, are in Gaza City, which before the war was home to over 650,000 people, a population comparable to that of Washington, D.C. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise sharply if Israeli forces expand their ground operation and end up battling Palestinian militants in dense residential areas.

Though Israel ordered Palestinians to flee the north, where Gaza City is located, and move south, hundreds of thousands remain, in part because Israel has also bombarded targets in so-called safe zones. Around 117,000 displaced people hoping to stay safe from strikes are staying in hospitals in northern Gaza, alongside thousands of patients and staff, according to UN figures.
The death toll among Palestinians passed 8,300, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said Monday. The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. More than 1.4 million people in Gaza have fled their homes. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas' initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said additional infantry, armoured, engineering and artillery units had entered Gaza and the operations would continue to "expand and intensify." The military said troops have killed dozens of militants who attacked from inside buildings and tunnels. It said that in the last few days, it had struck more than 600 militant targets, including weapons depots and antitank missile launching positions. Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, including toward its commercial hub, Tel Aviv. Hamas said its fighters clashed with Israeli troops who entered the northwest. It was not possible to independently confirm battlefield claims made by either side.
Meanwhile, crowded hospitals in northern Gaza came under growing threat. Strikes hit near Gaza City's

Shifa

and Al Quds hospitals and the Indonesian and Turkish hospitals in northern Gaza in recent days, the UN and residents said Monday. All 10 hospitals operating in northern Gaza have got evacuation orders, UN's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said. Staff have refused to leave, saying evacuation would mean death for patients on ventilators. Strikes hit within 50 meters of Al Quds Hospital after it received two calls from Israeli authorities on Sunday ordering it to evacuate, the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said. Some windows were blown out, and rooms were covered in debris. It said 14,000 people are sheltering there.