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Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza Thursday and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local medics said, as residents reported that Gaza City suburbs were under intensifying bombardment.The Israeli military is preparing to seize Gaza City, the territory's largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to desist over fears that a ground offensive would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there.In Gaza City residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israeli forces shelled the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. Thursday's deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said.The Israeli military said in a statement that it was continuing to operate throughout the enclave.The military had killed three Hamas fighters in the past day, it said, without saying how they had identified the individuals.A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said 31 patients, most with gunshot wounds, were admitted to the Red Cross Field Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Four of them were declared dead on arrival."Patients said they were injured while trying to reach food distribution sites," the spokesperson said, adding that since the aid hubs began operations on May 27, the hospital had treated over 5,000 "weapon-wounded patients".United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Israel's expanded military operation in Gaza City would have "devastating consequences".Guterres also said UN-led humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian enclave were being blocked or delayed and people were dying of hunger as a "result of deliberate decisions that defy basic humanity"."Starvation of the civilian population must never be used as a method of warfare. Civilians must be protected. Humanitarian access must be unimpeded," he said. "No more excuses. No more obstacles. No more lies."With the enclave in the grips of a humanitarian crisis, the Gaza health ministry said Thursday that four more people, including two children, had died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising the number of deaths from such causes to 317 people, including 121 children, since the war started.Dozens of Palestinians were admitted to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis with gunshot wounds, according to a doctor there who said soldiers had fired on a crowd of Palestinians that had gathered near an aid distribution hub.Mohammad Saqer, the head of nursing, told Reuters most of the patients had been admitted with gunshot wounds to the upper parts of the body and that many were in critical condition.The patients had reported they were shot as they sought to collect food from a distribution site in Rafah, he said.The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

A black-clad gunman killed two children and wounded 17 other people Wednesday, when he opened fire on students at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said.The assailant, a man in his early 20s, fired dozens of rounds through the church windows and then took his own life, officials said. He was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, they said."This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible," Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara told reporters.The shooting occurred two days after school started at Annunciation Catholic School, a private elementary school with about 395 students connected to a Roman Catholic church in a residential area in the southeast part of Minnesota's largest city.Local TV showed parents ducking under yellow police crime tape and leading students out of the school.Officials said the shooter did not have an extensive criminal history. They did not provide his name and said they were trying to identify a motive.Law enforcement was investigating multiple online videos to determine if they were posted by the shooter, according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.Local hospitals said they were treating 15 children and two adults, with many suffering gunshot wounds.School shootings occur on a regular basis in the US, spurring ongoing debates about gun laws and school safety. There have been more than 140 such incidents so far this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database."Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church," Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference, visibly angry.US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the shooting and said the FBI was on the scene. "Please join me in praying for everyone involved!" he said on social media.The US department of homeland security is in touch with local authorities and monitoring the situation, Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said on social media.There have been three other shootings in the midwestern city since Tuesday afternoon, including one at a high school, that have together left three people dead and seven wounded, according to police.Wednesday's shooting did not appear to be related to the others, O'Hara said.Minneapolis has experienced a significant rise in homicides in the years following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide protests, civil disturbances and staffing shortages in the city's police department. The city recorded 54 homicides last year, down from 71 in 2021 but well above the 29 recorded in 2019.In June, Minnesota also experienced an incident of political violence, when a gunman posing as a police officer allegedly assassinated a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in their home, and wounded another lawmaker and his wife.The suspect was arrested after a massive two-day manhunt and faces state and federal murder charges.Minnesota state law requires background checks for all gun sales and the state as a whole has a gun death rate below the national average, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention group.