Israel presses ground offensive in Gaza

Israel's military pressed ground operations across the Gaza Strip today (23 March), urging Palestinians to flee an offensive in Rafah city nearly a week into a renewed assault on the Hamas-ruled territory.

The latest evacuation warning follows a deadly flare-up in Lebanon and missiles fired from Yemen, as Israeli troops again deploy to parts of Gaza despite calls to revive a January truce.

In a statement on X, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army "launched an offensive to strike the terrorist organisations" in a district of the southern city of Rafah, already the target of a major Israeli offensive about a year ago.

In a message that AFP correspondent said also appeared on leaflets dropped over the area by drone, Adraee called on Palestinians there to leave the "dangerous combat zone" in Tal al-Sultan district and move further north.

At a charity kitchen in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city just north of Rafah, 19-year-old Iman al-Bardawil said many displaced Palestinians like her struggle to "afford food and drink".

"We are in the month of Ramadan, which is a blessed month, and people... find themselves obliged to come here," Bardawil told AFP, lamenting "the suffering" she saw around her.

"I'm here to get rice for the children, but it's gone," said Saed Abu al-Jidyan, who like Bardawil has fled his home in northern Gaza.

"The crossings are closed, and my salary has been suspended since the beginning of the war... there is no food in Gaza."

Top Hamas official killed

Before its renewed assault, Israel in early March blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into war-ravaged Gaza and cut electricity supply, in a bid to force Hamas to accept the Israeli terms for an extension of the ceasefire and release the 58 hostages still held by Palestinian militants since the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

The electricity supplied by Israel had fed Gaza's main water desalination plant, and the decision to cut power has aggravated already dire conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Part of its renewed operations, the Israeli military said "troops began operating in the area of Beit Hanun in northern Gaza", targeting Hamas militants and seeking "to expand the security zone in northern Gaza".

On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the army to "seize more territory in Gaza", warning Israel could annex it if Hamas failed to heed Israel's demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.

Hamas has accused Israel of sacrificing the hostages with the resumed bombardments, while many of the families of the captives have called for a renewed ceasefire, noting that most of those released alive did so during truce periods.

In northern Gaza, a military statement on Sunday said that adding to ground opeartions, "fighter jets struck several Hamas targets and terror infrastructure sites".

An Israeli air strike Saturday on a displacement camp in the Khan Yunis area killed senior Hamas political official Salah al-Bardawil and his wife, the group said.

"At 1:30 or 2:00 am, we heard a very loud explosion," said Murad al-Najjar, a resident of the area.

"Our tents were destroyed... And we saw that a man and his wife were martyred."

Bardawil is the third member of Hamas's political bureau killed in Israeli strikes since last week.

'No more bloodshed'

The escalation in Gaza coincided with a wave of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Saturday in response to rocket fire, which militant group Hezbollah -- an ally of Hamas -- denied responsibility for.

In the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, the Lebanese health ministry said seven people were killed on Saturday, including in an attack on Tyre which a security source told AFP targeted a Hezbollah official.

Saturday's strike on Tyre, a major coastal city, left cars and buildings badly damaged, with holes blown into the facade of a building.

On Sunday Lebanon's official National News Agency said an Israeli drone targeted a car in a southern town, reporting an unspecified number of casualties.

Since intense fighting resumed in Gaza on Tuesday, Hamas has fired rockets and Yemen's Huthi rebels have launched several missile at Israel.

Early Sunday Israel said it intercepted a missile from Yemen, part of an escalation with the Iran-backed Huthis who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.

In Israel, crowds took to the streets on Saturday to protest moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for an end to the war.

Signs read "No more bloodshed" and "Stop the war, Now!" to ensure the return of the hostages still in Gaza.

Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Nearly 50,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.