Air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed a Hamas weapons maker and several fighters, the Israeli military said, as its air and ground offensive targeted the group's tunnel network beneath the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Gaza City, Hamas's main stronghold in the territory, is encircled by Israeli forces. The military said troops have advanced to the heart of the densely-populated city while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses.

With the conflict now entering its second month, UN officials stepped up their appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza, where buildings have been flattened and basic supplies are running out. 

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Palestinian officials say more than 10,300 people have been killed, 40 percent of them children.

The level of death and suffering is "hard to fathom," UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said in Geneva. "Every day, you think it is the worst day and then the next day is worse."

A humanitarian aid convoy came under fire in Gaza City, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Two trucks were damaged and a driver lightly injured as the ICRC convoy, which was carrying "lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities including to Al Quds hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society," was hit by fire, the medical NGO said.

Alyona Synenko, ICRC spokesperson told Al Jazeera the organization was "shocked to see this happening."

Israel attacked Gaza in response to a Hamas raid on southern Israel on October 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages. The war has descended into the bloodiest episode in the generations-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Israel faces heavy resistance

Israel's stated intention is to wipe out Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, pounding it from air, land and sea while ground troops have moved in to divide the narrow coastal strip in two in fierce urban fighting amid the ruins of buildings.

The Israeli military said two separate strikes eliminated a leading Hamas commander, Mahsein Abu Zina, and fighters engaged in anti-tank or ground-to-ground rocket fire.

Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces near al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City. Reporters were unable to verify the battlefield claims of either side.

There was no further word from Israel on the possible fate of Yahya Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza and believed to be a key planner of the October 7 attacks. Israel said he had been cornered in his bunker. 

Chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said combat engineers were using explosive devices to destroy a tunnel network built by Hamas that stretches for hundreds of kilometers (miles) beneath Gaza.

Israeli tanks have encountered heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using the tunnels to stage ambushes, according to sources with Hamas and the separate Islamic Jihad militant group. Israel says 32 of its soldiers have been killed.

Israelis have voiced fear that military operations could further endanger the hostages, who are believed to be held in the tunnels. Israel says it will not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages are released. Hamas says it will not stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.

'Gaza is unbreakable'

"I challenge (Israel) if it has been able, to this moment, to record any military achievement on the ground other than killing civilians," senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera television. "Gaza is unbreakable and will remain a thorn in the throat of the Americans and the Zionists."

In a televised statement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there would be "no entry of gasoline... no ceasefire without the release of our hostages."

Netanyahu also warned Hezbollah "it will be making the mistake of its life" if it opens a new front in the war from its base in Lebanon.

The fighting is concentrated in the north of the Gaza Strip and Israel has told civilians to flee to the south, but it has been bombing southern areas as well. In the main southern city Khan Younis, ambulances brought to a hospital the bodies of three Palestinians, including a young girl, killed in a house that was hit. 

Nearly two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are internally displaced, according to UN figures, with thousands seeking refuge at hospitals including in makeshift canvas shelters in their car parks. 

About 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday, and 2,000 on Sunday, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Civilians escape during a four-hour window set daily by the Israeli military. Most people fleeing are children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

U.S. urges Israel to not reoccupy Gaza

Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans if it achieves its stated goal of vanquishing Hamas. In some of the first direct comments on the subject, Netanyahu said Israel would seek security responsibility for Gaza for an indefinite period after the conflict. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel not to reoccupy Gaza once the conflict ends.

Speaking to reporters after G7 foreign ministers held talks in Japan, Blinken said: The United States believes key elements should include: no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, not now, not after the war; No use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or other violent attacks; No reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict ends."

Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab and Islamic nations in coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Saudi investment minister said.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will travel to Saudi Arabia for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit, Etemaad Online news website reported, the first visit by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostility under a deal brokered by China in March.

Foreign ministers from the G7 have warned Iran about escalation during Israel's war on Gaza, saying Tehran must rein in its allied armed groups.

'No food, no water'

At Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital, Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering with young children in an improvised tent, said they fled their home because of air strikes. 

"The situation is getting worse day after day," she said. "There is no food, no water. When my son goes to pick up water, he queues for three or four hours in the line. They struck bakeries, we don't have bread."

The UN says Gaza's health system is close to collapse, battered by air strikes, flooded with trauma patients, and running out of medicines and fuel. 

There are 350,000 patients with chronic conditions in Gaza, including cancer and diabetes, as well as 50,000 pregnant women, according to data from UN organizations, and many are no longer receiving treatment.

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