Israel launches major ground offensive to 'seize and control' areas in Gaza
Israel has launched a new military operation in the Gaza Strip to increase the pressure on Hamas to release remaining hostages.
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Defence minister Israel Katz said Operation Gideon Chariots is under way and is being led with "great force" by Israel's army.
The Israeli Defense Forces said it had mobilised troops for "Operation Gideon's Chariots" to seize "strategic areas" of the strip.
Israel has said it would not stop operating "until Hamas is no longer a threat and all our hostages are home", and had "struck over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in 24 hours.
The announcement comes after days of intensive strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds of people, according to Gaza's health ministry.
More than 300 people have been killed in strikes on Gaza since Thursday, according to local health authorities. Israel has begun one of the deadliest phases of its attacks since a truce collapsed in March.
The director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, Marwan Al-Sultan, said it had received 58 bodies since midnight "while a large number of victims remain under the rubble".
"The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic," he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to escalate pressure on Hamas with the aim of destroying the militant group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.
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Yesterday, as US President Donald Trump wrapped up his Middle East visit, Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza.
Widespread attacks across northern Gaza took place as Mr Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states - but not Israel.
There had been widespread hope that Mr Trump's regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
The strikes lasted hours into Friday morning, sending people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya.
It followed days of similar attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza.
In comments released by Mr Netanyahu's office on Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza "with great strength to complete the mission... It means destroying Hamas."
It was unclear if Friday's bombardment was the start of the operation.
The war began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an intrusion into southern Israel on October 7 2023.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza's
Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants.
Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said.
Hamas still holds 58 of the roughly 250 hostages it took during its October 7 attack on Israel, with 23 believed to still be alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.
The attacks come as Israel enters its third month of blockading Gaza, preventing food, fuel medicine and all other supplies from entering, worsening a humanitarian crisis.
Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds and that it will not allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution.
Earlier this week, a new humanitarian organization that has US backing to take over aid delivery said it expects to begin operations before the end of the month - after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials.
A statement from the group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, identified several US military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort.
Many in the humanitarian community, including the UN, said the system does not align with humanitarian principles and will not be able to meet the needs of Palestinians in Gaza.