47 more Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes

Israeli forces bombed across the Gaza Strip yesterday, and tanks advanced to the edge of the Mawasi displaced persons' camp in the northwest of the southern Gaza city of Rafah in fierce fighting with Hamas-led fighters, residents said.

Images of two Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop overlooking the coastal area went viral on social media.

"The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis," said one resident, who asked not to be named, on a chat app.

• Hamas fighters attack Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets
• Hezbollah targets Israeli barracks after commander's death
• Gaza death toll rises to 37,598

More than eight months into Israel's offensive in the Palestinian enclave, its advance is focused on the two areas its forces have yet to seize: Rafah on Gaza's southern tip and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre.

Residents said Israeli tanks had pushed deeper into western and northern Rafah in recent days, blowing up dozens of houses, reports Reuters.

The Israeli military said it was continuing "intelligence-based, targeted operations" in the Rafah area and had located weapons stores and tunnel shafts, and killed Palestinian gunmen.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement said their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in Rafah with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs and pre-planted explosive devices.

Elsewhere, an Israeli airstrike killed eight Palestinians in Sabra, a suburb of Gaza City in the north, and another strike killed two people in Nuseirat in central Gaza.

The military said it had struck dozens of targets throughout the Strip.

In Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, health officials at Kamal Adwan Hospital said a baby had died of malnutrition, taking the number of children dead of malnutrition or dehydration since October 7 to at least 30, a number that health officials say reflects under-recording.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 37,598 people have been killed during more than eight months of offensive. The toll includes at least 47 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was headed to Washington yesterday for "critical" talks on the Gaza offensive raging since October 7 and surging cross-border tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced hope for speedy progress on unfreezing US arms and ammunition deliveries from Israel's top ally which he said had dropped off sharply in recent months.

Hezbollah meanwhile said it had targeted a military position in northern Israel "with an attack drone" in response to the killing of a commander of the Jamaa Islamiya group in a strike on eastern Lebanon.

Israel said no one was injured in the attack yesterday.

Hezbollah had hours earlier published a video excerpt purporting to show locations in Israel along with their coordinates, amid heightening fears of an all-out conflict.