Rescuers work to recover bodies after an Israeli strike in Gaza City. /Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
At least 14 Palestinians died on Friday after Israeli attacks in north and central areas of the Gaza Strip, according to medics, as tanks advanced into northwest Rafah near the border with Egypt.
The unrelenting fighting between the Israelis and Hamas militants in the enclave carried on even as a parallel conflict in the Lebanon-Israel border area involving Hamas' allies Hezbollah intensified.
Palestinian health officials said shelling by Israeli tanks killed eight people and wounded several others in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central area of Gaza and six others were killed in an airstrike on a house.
In the southern city of Rafah, where the Israeli army has been operating since May, tanks advanced further to the northwest area backed by aircraft, residents said. They also reported heavy fire and explosions in the eastern areas of the city, where Israeli forces blew up several houses.
"Our fighters are engaged in fierce gunbattles against Israeli forces, who advanced into Tanour neighbourhood in Rafah," Hamas' armed wing said.
The Israeli military has said forces operating in Rafah had in past weeks killed hundreds of Palestinian militants, located tunnels and explosives and destroyed military infrastructure.
Israel's demand to keep control of the southern border line between Rafah and Egypt has been the focus of an international effort to conclude a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The U.S. and mediators Qatar and Egypt have for months attempted to secure a truce but have failed to bring Israel and Hamas to a final agreement.
Encroaching sea
In a new challenge to Palestinians displaced in the Al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza, many are concerned about the danger of high waves. Some tents put up close to the beach flooded last week.
"Enough, enough, enough. We were pushed by the occupation (Israel) to the sea, where we believed it was safe. Last week the sea flooded and washed away tents, and that could happen again - where would we go?" said Shaban, an electrical engineer displaced from Gaza City.
This latest escalation in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered last October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.
Hezbollah members salute next to the coffin of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, after hand-held radios and pagers used by Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon, during his funeral in Kfar Melki. /Aziz Taher/Reuters
Hostility intensification
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon urged immediate de-escalation as hostilities continued at the Lebanese-Israeli border on Friday, following Israel's most intense airstrikes in nearly a year of conflict with Hezbollah.
Israel's military said on Thursday it had struck hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers that had been set to fire towards Israel, in what security sources in Lebanon said was the heaviest such attack since hostilities began last October.
Hezbollah suffered an unprecedented attack in which pagers and walkie-talkies used by its members exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.
The UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon said on Friday morning the previous 12 hours had seen "a heavy intensification of the hostilities" across the Lebanese-Israeli border and in its area of operations.
"We are concerned at the increased escalation across the Blue Line and urge all actors to immediately de-escalate," UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said, referring to the line that delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.
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