Israeli forces struck an Orthodox Christian church at which up to 500 people were sheltering. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the main Palestinian Christian denomination, said hundreds of Christians and Muslims had sought sanctuary at the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City.

Video from the scene showed a wounded boy being carried from rubble at night. A civil defense worker said two people on upper floors had survived; those on lower floors had been killed and their bodies were still in the rubble.

"They felt they would be safe here. They came from under the bombardment and the destruction, and they said they would be safe here but destruction chased them," a man cried out.

Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said 18 Christian Palestinians had been killed. There was no immediate word from the church – Gaza's oldest active church – on the final death toll. It said targeting churches that were used as shelters for people fleeing bombing was "a war crime that cannot be ignored."

The Israeli military said part of the church was damaged in a strike on a militant command centre and it was reviewing the incident. It said it had targeted a "command and control center belonging to a Hamas terrorist." 

The church is not far from the Al-Ahli Arab hospital, which was hit by a deadly airstrike on Tuesday. Both sides in the conflict have traded blame for the bloody carnage, but neither the provenance of the strike nor the death toll could immediately be independently verified.

Hamas accused Israel of hitting the hospital during its massive bombing campaign, and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has put the death toll at 471, though that number is contested. Israel's military has blamed a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket – a version of events backed by the United States, whose intelligence community has estimated between 100 and 300 people were killed.

UN's Gutteres visits aid truck queues at Rafah border

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza to oversee preparations for the delivery of aid.

Guterres said that aid trucks need to move into Gaza as quickly as possible, calling for a meaningful number of trucks to enter Gaza every day and for verifications of aid to be done in a way that is practical and expedited.

"We are actively engaging with all parties to make sure conditions for delivering aid are lifted," he said.

Aid has been piling up on the border while aid agencies awaited permission to enter. Many Palestinians are in dire need of food and water after relentless bombing by Israel, still reeling from the bloodiest attack in its history. 

Speaking ealier on Friday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said: "We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation in Gaza starts as quickly as possible... a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so."

The UN said more than a million of Gaza's 2.4 million population have been displaced and that the humanitarian situation is worsening by the day.

Medicine, water purifiers and blankets have been unloaded at El Arish airport near Gaza, with Ahmed Ali, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent, saying he was getting "two to three planes of aid a day."

The situation inside Gaza is "beyond catastrophic," said Sara Alzawqari, UNICEF spokeswoman for the Gulf. "Time is running out and the numbers of casualties amongst children are rising."

Egyptian state-linked broadcaster Al Qahera News had said the Rafah crossing would open on Friday, but Cairo later said it needed more time to repair roads. And in Geneva, the Word Health Organization's emergencies director Michael Ryan called a deal struck by U.S. President Joe Biden to allow in 20 trucks "a drop in the ocean of need." He added: "It should be 2,000 trucks."

Israel preparing for a ground offensive

Within Israel, still coming to terms with the deadliest attack in its 75-year history, leaders rallied troops for a ground offensive.

Decked out in body armor, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited frontline troops near Gaza, urging them to "fight like lions" and "win with full force." Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also toured the front line, telling some of the tens of thousands of troops awaiting the expected ground offensive that new orders would come soon.

"Right now you see Gaza from afar, soon you will see it from the inside. The order will come soon," he said, predicting "difficult" battles ahead.

The horror of what Israel suffered on October 7 and following days was still emerging, as traumatized residents recounted their stories. Shachar Butler, a security chief at the Nir Oz kibbutz, where Hamas militants killed or kidnapped a quarter of the 400 residents, recalls more than a dozen gunmen spraying bullets indiscriminately and throwing grenades at homes.

"It's unimaginable," said the 40-year-old. "Any time someone tried to touch my window, I shot him. The people who came out got kidnapped, killed, executed, slaughtered."

Butler estimated as many as 200 fighters attacked the kibbutz, entering from three sides before going house-to-house. Homes there were still charred with burned personal belongings strewn everywhere. Israel says around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the areas under attack.

UN refugee chief says military escalation 'catastrophic' for Gaza

Any escalation of military activities in the Gaza Strip will be "catastrophic" for people there, the UN high commissioner for refugees said on Friday.

"(I) can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activities will just be catastrophic for the people of Gaza," Filippo Grandi told reporters in Japan.

While stressing that refugee agency UNHCR has no formal mandate in Israel or the Palestinian Territories, Grandi said that he "shares the extreme worry and anguish that has been expressed by many of my colleagues including the UN secretary general" about the conflict.

He also called the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 "appalling" and said that the consequences of the conflict spreading into Lebanon and elsewhere would be "incalculable."

Biden backs Israel and calls for more aid for Gaza

During a rare address from the Oval Office, Biden urged the United States to take the lead in supporting Israel and Ukraine, saying he would make an "urgent" request to Congress for aid later on Friday.

"American leadership is what holds the world together," Biden said in just the second primetime speech to the nation of his presidency from behind the historic Resolute Desk.

While solidly backing Israel, he also pointed to the plight of those trapped in Gaza, saying they "urgently need food, water and medicine." Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel this week, Biden is hoping to staunch the possibility of a wider Middle East war.

The United States has already moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah, both sympathetic to Hamas, from getting involved. But fears of a wider conflagration are growing, with Israel announcing plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon.

Key Middle East players Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Jordan's King Abdullah II have warned the conflict could spread and condemned what they said was the "collective punishment" of Gazans.

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Israel army orders evacuation of northern city after Lebanon clashes

The Israeli army announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon.

"A short while ago, the Northern Command informed the mayor of the city of the decision. The plan will be managed by the local authority, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Defense," the military said in a statement.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days. Israel's military said its forces continued to target Hezbollah targets as tensions grew along the border.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) carried out a number of attacks against Hezbollah infrastructure, including observation posts," the army said early Friday. "In addition, IDF fighter jets struck three terrorists who attempted to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israel."

Israeli authorities have been steadily evacuating communities across the northern frontier, as reservists and columns of tanks and armored vehicles poured into the area.

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