Israel's relentless aerial bombardment of Gaza killed scores of Palestinians overnight as it warned it would further intensify airstrikes ahead of a looming ground offensive. Meanwhile Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Syria, as well as pledges from the U.S. to move more military assets to the region, have sparked fresh fears that the fighting could spill over into a wider Middle East conflict. 

Early on Sunday morning, medical sources in Gaza said that more than 50 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes overnight on the territory, to which Israel has laid "total siege" after a cross-border attack by Hamas fighters that left around 1400 dead. The uptick in aerial strikes came hours after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his cabinet, reportedly to discuss an expected ground invasion of Gaza. 

Military spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed to press Israel would be stepping up its attacks, preparing for the next stages of the military campaign by intensifying its already devastating bombardment of the Strip. Warning Gaza's residents to move south "for your own safety," Hagari said: "We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today." 

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Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday that Israel's attacks had so far killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, with more than a million of the territory's 2.3 million people displaced. That's after Israel ordered the entire population of northern Gaza to move south ahead of its planned land incursion.

While hundreds of thousands of civilians are believed to remain in and around Gaza City in the north – unable or unwilling to leave – Israel has been amassing tanks and troops near the fenced border around the enclave. Its commanders visited the front-line units on Saturday to rally the troops ahead of the expected ground attack. Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told soldiers: "Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing a lot of things there – but we are also preparing for them."

Palestinians in Gaza's north said they received renewed Israeli warnings over the weekend to get out of the area, with military leaflets dropped on the Strip containing the threat that Gaza residents could be identified as "terrorist" sympathizers if they stayed put. The Israeli military later said in a statement it had "no intention to consider those who have not evacuated... as a member of the terrorist group."

The violence in around Gaza has also sparked fresh violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where raids and settler attacks have killed dozens of Palestinians. Israeli forces bombed a mosque in the Jenin refugee camp, claiming that a compound beneath the building was being used by Palestinian fighters to organize attacks. Officials said Sunday that the strike had killed multiple "terror operatives." A fifth Palestinian was also killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank overnight, bringing the number of deaths there to 90 since the conflict escalated. 

Meanwhile, a first trickle of aid entered the Strip on Saturday. However, the 20 trucks permitted to cross were described as a "drop in the ocean" given the "catastrophic" humanitarian situation there. Some food, water and medicine had crossed from Egypt into Gaza, the UN's humanitarian office said, but the volume of goods was just 4 percent of the daily average of imports into Gaza before the hostilities – and a fraction of what was needed in the enclave. At a peace summit in Egypt, the international body's chief Antonio Guterres urged a humanitarian ceasefire "to end this godawful nightmare."

A wider conflict?

As fears mount over a wider conflagration, in neighboring Syria, Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early on Sunday, killing at least two workers, according to Syrian state media. It is the second time the airports were damaged and put them out of service within two weeks, as Israel claims shipment of advanced weapons are being sent there from Iran, allegedly to arm its various Middle East allies, chief among them Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Fresh fire was also exchanged across Israel's border with Lebanon, as Israel's military warned Hezbollah that it was "dragging Lebanon into a war." Israel has been exchanging cross-border fire with the Iran-backed group since the conflict's escalation, the worst frontier violence since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. It announced that its aircraft had again bombed Hezbollah targets over the weekend, while the Lebanese group confirmed that six of its fighters were killed.

Dozens of northern Israeli communities have been evacuated from the area, and nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon have fled border areas for the southern city of Tyre. "All my children are young. If the apocalypse comes, how will I get them all out in one go?" said Mustafa al-Sayyid, in a classroom stripped of desks and dotted with thin mattresses. "So I thought, better to leave now."

"Hezbollah is playing a very, very dangerous game. They're escalating the situation. We see more and more attacks every day," Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Lebanon's caretaker prime minister that the the country's population would be affected if Hezbollah were drawn into the Israeli-Hamas war, the State Department said.

The U.S. announced over the weekend that it would be dispatching more military assets to the Middle East. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would be putting more troops on standby and sending more weapons in support of Israel and to strengthen the U.S.'s presence in the region following "recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces." 

Western leaders have regularly warned Hezbollah against intervening in the Gaza-Israel conflict since it escalated earlier this month, but the group's number two said it was ready to step up involvement. "If something comes up that calls for greater intervention by us, we will do so," Naim Qassem said.

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