Gaza families seek shelter amid fresh Israeli strikes

Many Palestinians were seeking shelter yesterday after fleeing their homes in southern Gaza and complained of water shortages as Israel pressed on with its military offensive in the densely populated enclave.

Israeli forces carried out new military strikes in the southern city of Rafah amid fierce fighting with Hamas fighters overnight, residents said. At least 12 people were killed in new strikes in central and northern Gaza.

Israel's leaders have said they are winding down the phase of intense fighting against Hamas, and will soon shift to more targeted operations in the nearly nine-month-old offensive in Gaza.

• Hamas fighters shell Israeli tanks in west of Rafah
• Five Palestinians killed in Israeli raids in West Bank
• Gaza death toll rises to 37,953

But fighting continued overnight in two locations at the centre of Rafah, where tanks have seized several districts and advanced further west and north of the city in recent days, and concerns about the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced people are growing.

The Israeli military said its forces had continued targeted, intelligence-based operations in Rafah, dismantled several sites and killed Hamas members.

Hamas' armed wing said it had shelled two Israeli tanks in a neighbourhood west of Rafah and fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces attacking Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City in the centre of the enclave.

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an allied group, said it had shelled an Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, and fired on Israeli army positions east of Shejaia.

In Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, two Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians, health officials said. In Shejaia an airstrike killed four and wounded 17, medics said.

Another airstrike hit a car in the southern city of Deir Al-Balah, killing three people, health officials said.

Deir Al-Balah is crowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced to flee homes elsewhere in Gaza, and residents complain of acute shortages of drinking water and inflated prices for basic foodstuff.

"There is no clean water to drink. We are forced to buy salty or unclean water at a high price," said Shaban, 47, a father of five.

"Most of the displaced suffer from abdominal pains and diseases such as hepatitis because of the unhealthy water, the lack of decent food and the pollution as many live near sewage pools," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 37,953 people have been killed during nearly nine months of offensive. The toll includes at least 28 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in two military operations yesterday.

Meanwhile, a source close to Lebanon's Hezbollah said a senior commander from the Iran-backed group was killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the southern city of Tyre.

While the United States has maintained its strong support for Israel throughout the offensive, President Joe Biden has on some occasions expressed concerns about Israel's conduct.

A White House official said on Tuesday Biden was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late July when the Israeli leader visits to address the US Congress.