Israel bombs Gaza as UN warns civilians face 'grave peril'

Israeli soldiers ride a military vehicle, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, December 28, 2023. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Israeli forces on Thursday heavily bombed the besieged Gaza Strip as the centre of fierce combat against Hamas moves steadily south, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

The war, which started with Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, has devastated much of northern Gaza as air and artillery strikes and house-to-house fighting have become heaviest in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, reported more than 200 deaths "including entire families" over the past 24 hours in strikes across the territory.

An AFP correspondent reported heavy artillery strikes overnight particularly on Khan Yunis.

The Israeli army has deployed an additional brigade to Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, said military spokesman Daniel Hagari.

More than 80 percent's of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been driven from their homes, the UN says, and many now live in cramped shelters or makeshift tents in the far south, in and around the city of Rafah near Egypt.

UN World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for "urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril" facing Gaza's people, including "terrible injuries, acute hunger and... severe risk of disease".

French President Emmanuel Macron in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his "deepest concern at the very heavy civilian toll" and stressed "the need to work towards a lasting ceasefire", Macron's office said.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which is considered a "terrorist" group by the US and EU, in retaliation for its October 7 attack, which left about 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity -- a source of intense grief and anxiety for their families who have held protests demanding urgent action to "bring them home", the latest in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Israel's relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasion with troops and tanks have killed at least 21,320 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The Israeli army says 167 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza.