Dozens killed in Israeli strike that Hamas warns threaten truce talks

Palestinian officials said an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza Strip killed more than two dozen people, while advancing tanks in Gaza City forced residents to flee under fire as Israel on Tuesday stepped up an offensive that Hamas warned could jeopardize ceasefire talks.

The airstrike hit the tents of displaced families outside a school in the town of Abassan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least 29, mostly women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing reports that civilians were harmed. It said the incident occurred when it struck with "precise munition" a Hamas fighter who took part in the October 7 raid on Israel that precipitated the Israeli assault on Gaza.

The latest fighting unfolded as senior U.S. officials were in the region to push for a ceasefire after Hamas made concessions last week.

Delegations from Egypt, the United States, Qatar and Israel will meet on Wednesday in Qatar's capital Doha to continue the Gaza truce talks, Egypt's Al-Qahera News TV channel reported on Tuesday.

Head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel and his U.S. counterpart William Burns are heading the Egyptian and U.S. delegations, respectively, after concluding an intensive round of discussions in Cairo on Tuesday, the report said, citing a high-level source.

The two-day meeting in Cairo was also joined by an Israeli negotiating team headed by Ronen Bar, the chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

However, Israel's renewed campaign threatened talks at a crucial time and could bring negotiations "back to square one," Hamas quoted leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying.

Video on social media showed families packed onto donkey carts and in the backs of trucks piled with mattresses and other belongings, making their way through Gaza City's streets to flee areas under Israeli evacuation orders.

"Gaza City is being wiped out. This is what is happening. Israel is forcing us to leave homes under fire," Um Tamer, a mother of seven, told Reuters via a chat app.

She said it was the seventh time her family had fled their house in Gaza City, in the north of the enclave and one of Israel's first targets at the start of the war in October.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said all of its medical clinics were out of service in Gaza City due to the Israeli evacuation orders that have driven thousands of people westward towards the Mediterranean and to the south.

A UN spokesman said on Tuesday that the UN humanitarians described the displacement of thousands of people in Gaza City as "dangerously chaotic."

"This follows recent Israeli evacuation orders instructing people to leave into or through neighborhoods where (active) fighting is taking place – or areas where separate evacuation orders were later issued," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Dujarric said Gazans fled in multiple directions, not knowing which way may be the safest. Under fire and bombardment, many people were displaced, with very few of them able to take their possessions.

(With input from agencies)