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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.

The Israeli military pressed operations around Gaza City Wednesday, as President Donald Trump prepared to host a White House meeting on post-war plans for the shattered Palestinian territory.Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.Mediators have circulated a truce proposal which has been accepted by Palestinian group Hamas, but Israel has yet to give an official response.On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 24 people Wednesday.The Israeli military, which is preparing to conquer Gaza City, said troops were operating on the outskirts of the territory's largest city "to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites".As aid groups have warned against expanding the Israeli offensive, the army's Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on X that Gaza City's evacuation was "inevitable".The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's population of more than 2mn people have been displaced at least once during the war.In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately."We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in," he told AFP.The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president was to host top officials at the White House later Wednesday to thrash out a detailed plan for post-war Gaza."It's a very comprehensive plan we're putting together," Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip, clear out its inhabitants and redevelop it as seaside real estate.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal which sparked a global outcry.In Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood Wednesday, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight."Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night," said Tala al-Khatib, 29."Some neighbours have fled... But wherever you flee, death follows you," she said.AFP footage showed thick smoke rising into the sky following air strikes on parts of Gaza City.Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Friday to destroy the city if Hamas does not agree to end the war on Israel's terms.Zeitoun resident Abdel Hamid al-Sayfi, 62, said he had avoided going outside for more than 24 hours."Whoever steps outside is fired upon by the drones," he told AFP by telephone.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.Speaking after a security cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Netanyahu declined to share what had been decided.The Israeli leader last week said he ordered immediate negotiations aimed at securing the release of all remaining captives, while also doubling down on the plan to seize Gaza City.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it was still "waiting for an answer" from Israel on the latest ceasefire proposal, which would see the staggered release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody over an initial 60-day truce.

Medical sources have reported that 70 Palestinians were killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since the early hours of Tuesday.According to the sources, 30 Palestinians were killed in the northern part of the Strip, 20 in the central area, and 20 in the south.Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli occupation forces have been waging an unprecedented aggression on the Gaza Strip, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, while disregarding all international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt the assault.So far, the Israeli aggression has killed 62,819, injured 158,629, the majority of whom are children and women. Over 9,000 are missing hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has killed 303 people, including 117 children to date is spreading.

Catholic and Greek Orthodox priests and nuns will remain in Gaza City despite Israel's plan for a military takeover, the religious communities said in a joint statement on Tuesday."At the time of this statement, evacuation orders were already in place for several neighbourhoods in Gaza City. Reports of heavy bombardment continue to be received," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said."We do not know exactly what will happen on the ground, not only for our community, but for the entire population", they said.Hundreds of displaced people have sheltered since the outbreak of the war in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Catholic Holy Family compound, including children and those with special needs.Stray Israeli fire hit the Holy Family church in July, killing three and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest."Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months," the statement said."Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence."For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds".There are some 645 Catholic and Orthodox Christians left in the Gaza Strip, including five priests and five nuns, the Latin Patriarchate told AFP on Tuesday.Israel's cabinet approved in early August a plan for the military to take over Gaza City, despite mounting pressure both at home and abroad to wrap up a war which has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.The United Nations declared a famine in Gaza on Friday.Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,744 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City overnight Saturday to Sunday, destroying buildings and homes, residents said, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.Witnesses reported the sound of explosions non-stop overnight in the areas of Zeitoun and Shejaia, while tanks shelled houses and roads in the nearby Sabra neighbourhood and several buildings were blown up in the northern town of Jabalia.Fire lit the skies from the direction of the explosions, causing panic, prompting some families to stream out of the city. Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.The Israeli military said Sunday that its forces have returned to combat in the Jabalia area in recent days, to dismantle tunnels and strengthen control of the area.It added that the operation there "enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas from returning to operate in these areas."Israel approved a plan this month to seize control of Gaza City, describing it as the last bastion of Hamas. It is not expected to begin for a few weeks, leaving room for mediators Egypt and Qatar to try and resume ceasefire talks.Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz Sunday vowed to press on with the offensive on the city where famine has been declared, which has raised alarm abroad and objections at home. Katz has said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas agrees to end the war on Israel's terms and release all hostages.Hamas said in a statement Sunday that Israel's plan to take over Gaza City showed it wasn't serious about a ceasefire.It said a ceasefire agreement was "the only way to return the hostages", holding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for their lives.The proposal on the table calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.Once a temporary ceasefire begins, the proposal is for Hamas and Israel to begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire that would include the return of the remaining hostages.On Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel would immediately resume negotiations for the release of all 50 hostages — of whom Israel believes around 20 are still living — and an end to the nearly two-year-old war but on terms acceptable to Israel.Around half of the enclave's two million people currently live in Gaza City. A few thousand have already left, carrying their belongings on vehicles and rickshaws."I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City," said Mohammad, 40, via a chat app. "No place is safe, but I can't take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire."Others said they will not leave, no matter what."We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home," said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn't afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation, even if they did try to leave. "We are hungry, afraid and don't have money."A global hunger monitor said on Friday that Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread. Israel has rejected the assessment and says it ignores steps it has taken since late July to increase aid.On Sunday, the Gaza health ministry said eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave, raising deaths from such causes to 289 people, including 115 children, since the war started.