Israel has launched its long-planned ground offensive on Gaza City with heavy air strikes overnight as troops pushed into the edges of the city.
Palestinians have been forced to flee south down a single coastal road to the centre of the Strip, joining hundreds of thousands who already fled.
According to an Israel Defence Force (IDF) official, troops were moving deeper into the enclaves of the city and that the number of soldiers would rise in the coming days against the 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believe are still in the city.
"Residents of Gaza, the IDF has begun destroying Hamas infrastructure in Gaza City," Israel's Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adree said in a post on X.
"Gaza City is considered a dangerous combat zone, and staying in the area puts you at risk."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “powerful operation” was launched against Hamas’s “last major stronghold” amid criticism from the U.K. and other countries.
The offensive also came as the UN commission of inquiry deemed that Israel was committing a genocide.
UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk has called for an immediate stop to the ground assault on Gaza.
"I can only think of what it means for women, for malnourished children, for people with disabilities, if they are again attacked in this way. And I have to say the only response to this is: stop the carnage," Türk told reporters in Geneva.
The IDF estimates 350,000 have now fled; however, half a million remain in the city and are being asked to move south to a “humanitarian zone” in the coastal part of the strip, despite many not being able to.
"Hamas has turned Gaza City into the largest human shield in history,” IDF spokesperson, Brig Gen Effie Defrin said.
"We continue to urge civilians to distance themselves away from the combat zones in Gaza City so they can reach safer areas," he told a news conference.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, 59 people were killed and at least 386 were injured in the past 24 hours, with three dying as a result of famine and malnutrition, including a child.
