Israeli forces carried out the most intense bombardment in weeks in areas east of Gaza City on Monday, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he planned to "relatively quickly" to launch an expanded offensive in the enclave, Reuters reports.
An air strike also killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, in a tent in the Al Shifa hospital compound.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks and jets bombed Sabra, Zeitoun and Shejaya, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory, on Monday, forcing many families to flee their homes to the west.
Some Gaza residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive in their city, which the Palestinian militant group Hamas says is now home to about 1 million people after residents were displaced from the northern outskirts of the enclave.
The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There are no signs on the ground that its forces are moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which is not expected to begin in the coming weeks.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its forces dismantled a rocket complex east of Gaza City that Hamas had been using to fire rockets at Israeli communities across the border.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said he had instructed the Israeli military to accelerate its plans for the new offensive.
"I want the war to end as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to shorten the timetable for taking control of Gaza City," he said.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said the new offensive would focus on Gaza City, which he described as the "capital of terrorism" of Hamas. He also pointed to a map and noted that the coastal area of central Gaza could be next, saying Hamas fighters had also been pushed there.
The new plans have sparked alarm abroad. On Friday, Germany, a key European ally, announced it would halt exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. Britain and other European allies have urged Israel to reconsider its decision to escalate the military campaign in Gaza.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel, not Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the war.
According to Israeli figures, Hamas-led militants sparked the war in October 2023 when they invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only about 20 are believed to be alive.
According to health officials in Gaza, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli campaign. The majority of Gaza's population has been displaced multiple times, and its residents face a humanitarian crisis, with parts of the territory razed to the ground.