Fifty reported dead in Gaza as Israel steps up attacks on main city

Israeli military operations killed 50 people in Gaza on Friday, the territory's civil defense agency said, as the IDF stepped up its attacks on Gaza City.

Israel has said it intends to capture the territory's largest urban center, which it describes as one of the last strongholds of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The United Nations and members of the international community have warned against the assault for fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza City, where the UN has declared a famine. Britain, France and Germany called in a joint statement for an "immediate" halt to the offensive, saying it was causing civilian casualties and destroying key infrastructure. 

Gaza's civil defense agency said 35 people were killed in the city on Friday, along with another 15 in other parts of the territory. The Israeli military said it was continuing "its wide-scale strikes on terrorist infrastructure and high-rise structures" in Gaza City.

Israel began targeting tall buildings in the area a week ago, saying they were being used by Hamas. It said Friday that it would "intensify the pace of targeted strikes" in order to disrupt Hamas and "reduce the threat to our troops as part of preparations for the next stages of the operation."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will fly to Israel this weekend amid tensions with fellow U.S. allies in the Middle East over Israel's strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Thousands flee

The strikes in the northern Gaza Strip prompt thousands of Palestinians to flee south, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that in 24 hours by Thursday at 2 p.m. local time, its partners monitoring population movements tallied almost 11,000 people moving southward. They trekked through three humanitarian checkpoints with teams monitoring children for direct support or referral services for the injured, orphaned or separated from their caregivers.

Despite the violence and devastation, the office said that a UN team successfully delivered fuel to a series of critical service providers in Gaza City, including hospitals and other health facilities, as well as installations supporting water pumping, trucking, desalination and the management of solid waste.

OCHA said there is no let-up in the Gaza starvation crisis, which continues to worsen.

Gaza's health authorities reported that seven more people, including a child, died due to malnutrition and starvation over a span of 24 hours on Thursday, bringing the toll to 411, including 133 deaths since famine was confirmed last month.

The UN Children's Fund reported that more than 10,000 children in Gaza City have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition in the past two months, with 2,400 at high risk of death if treatment is interrupted.

OCHA said access for humanitarians remains challenging. Out of 21 missions that teams inside Gaza coordinated with Israeli authorities, only 10 were facilitated, including the movement of staff and supplies between the north and the south and within those areas. Two were denied, six impeded, and three canceled. "Unimpeded humanitarian access at a meaningful scale throughout Gaza is critical," the office stressed.

In the north, Israeli forces carried out a large-scale operation in Tulkarm on Thursday, imposing a curfew and detaining scores of Palestinians, reportedly without individual screening. Many were forced to walk a long distance to a military base. Raids, business closures, and live fire were also reported. On Friday, checkpoints continued to restrict people's movements after an explosive device wounded two Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, Israeli demolition of Palestinian property in the West Bank continues, with over 1,300 Palestinian-owned structures having been demolished across the West Bank since this year, resulting in yet more displacement, said OCHA.

(With input from agencies)