Fear and confusion in Gaza arose after the Israeli army told more than 1 million trapped Palestinians living in the north of the besieged enclave to move south within 24 hours ahead of an expected ground offensive.
The UN says mass relocation is “impossible” and could have devastating consequences. Hamas calls Israeli warnings “fake propaganda”.
In Beirut, Iran’s foreign minister says the war may open on “other fronts” if the bombing of Gaza continues.
At least 1,537 Palestinians were killed and 6,612 were wounded in Israeli air attacks on Gaza. The number of people killed in Israel has reached 1,300.
The World Health Organization has called for immediate humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, warning Israel’s blockade and bombardment have left the enclave’s health system at “breaking point”.
Noting Gaza’s overstretched hospitals had only a few hours of electricity a day, with fuel being rationed to maintain critical services including intensive care, and X-ray and dialysis services, the United Nations’ health agency called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow health workers into the territory, as well as the evacuation of the sick and injured.
It said shortages of medical supplies were also severe and that time was running out to prevent a humanitarian disaster in a territory that is home to more than two million people.
Gaza’s interior ministry said an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in a refugee camp killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens of others.
The Israeli military on Thursday bombarded the centre of the densely-populated Jabalia camp, ministry spokesperson Eyad Bozum said.
The building was packed with dozens of people who had fled heavy bombing from other parts of the Gaza Strip and taken refuge there.
Bozum said the death toll was likely to rise because civil defence workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble and counting the dead.
Israeli forces on Saturday launched a sustained military campaign against the Gaza Strip in response to an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas inside the Israeli territory. At least 100 people were also taken hostage by Hamas during its assault.
Hamas said the unprecedented attack was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against the Palestinians.