The Israeli army also asked residents and displaced people in Jabalia in northern Gaza to evacuate their places, saying that it would return to carry out operations there after noticing that Hamas was trying to regain control of the area.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of whom were from the central Gaza Strip, were killed in air strikes overnight in places throughout the Strip, including Rafah, adjacent to the border with Egypt. The ministry does not differentiate between the number of civilians and militants killed.
The Israeli army said that its planes bombed dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip during the past day, adding that ground forces killed about 30 fighters in the Zaytoun neighborhood.
Medics said that an Israeli air strike killed at least seven people in a house in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, all of them from one family.
Residents said that Israeli tanks were stationed in the town.
In Rafah, residents told Reuters that the new evacuation orders issued by the army included areas in the city center, which leaves no doubt that Israel intends to expand its ground attack there. The Ministry of Health said that 16 people were killed in Rafah.
The Israeli army said that it was continuing operations against Hamas fighters in eastern Rafah and on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.
* Incursion into Rafah
Despite increasing American pressure and concerns expressed by residents and relief organizations, Israel says it will go ahead with the incursion into Rafah, where more than a million people have been displaced as a result of the war that has been going on for seven months.
Israeli tanks took control of the main road separating the eastern and western sides of Rafah and effectively cordoned off the eastern side in an attack that prompted Washington to suspend the delivery of some military aid to its ally.
Israel says that it will not be able to achieve victory in this war without eliminating thousands of Hamas fighters who it believes are still present in Rafah.
The Israeli army said on Saturday that about 300,000 Gazans have gone towards Al-Mawasi so far.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the subsequent ongoing military operations have caused the death of nearly 35,000 Palestinians so far, in addition to wreaking havoc on the coastal strip and creating a major humanitarian crisis.
The two vital crossings for delivering aid to Gaza remain closed today, Saturday. The Palestinian News and Information Agency (Wafa) said that the Rafah crossing has been closed for the fifth day, while the Kerem Shalom crossing has been closed for about a week.
The latest evacuation orders came hours after internationally-brokered ceasefire talks appeared to falter, with Hamas saying that Israel’s rejection of the truce proposal it had accepted had returned matters to square one. Israel said that the terms of the agreement did not meet its demands.
Hamas also indicated that it is reconsidering its negotiating policy. She did not clarify whether this meant that she would tighten her conditions for reaching an agreement, but she said that she would consult with the leaders of the other Palestinian factions allied with her.
Israel says it wants to reach an agreement under which the hostages would be released in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons, but it is not ready to end the military offensive.
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