Israeli troops advance into Gaza City as Palestinians flee

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday as more people fled the devastated area, and strikes cut off phone and internet services, making it harder for Palestinians to summon ambulances during the military’s new offensive.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 65,000, local health officials said.

The Israeli military said air force and artillery units have struck the city more than 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes toppled high-rise towers in areas with densely populated tent camps. Israel claims the towers were being used by the militant group Hamas to watch troops.

Regulators said the severed phone and internet services hindered Palestinians’ ability to call for help, coordinate evacuations or share details of the offensive that began Tuesday and aims to take full control of the city.

Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, hospital officials reported. The death count in Gaza climbed to 65,062, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government.

An additional 165,697 Palestinians have been wounded since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas that triggered the war.

Meanwhile, Palestinians streamed out of the city — some by car, others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days beginning Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.

Israeli forces have carried out multiple large-scale raids into Gaza City over the course of the war, only to see militants regroup later. This time, Israel has pledged to take control of the entire city.

Children and parents among the latest fatalities

More than half of the Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes were in famine-stricken Gaza City, including a child and his mother who died in their apartment in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.

In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, killing three, including a pregnant woman. Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi area west of the city of Khan Yunis, said officials from Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians and that it would continue to operate against “terrorist organizations” in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in the 2023 attack, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive.

The Gaza Health Ministry, meanwhile, said that multiple Israeli strikes hit the Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City on Tuesday night. It posted pictures on Facebook showing the damaged roof, water tanks and rubble in a hospital hallway.

“This attack has once again shattered the illusion that hospitals or any place in Gaza are safe from Israel’s genocide,” said Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director for the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the strikes, but in the past it has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure in civilian areas.

Aid groups condemn offensive

A coalition of leading aid groups on Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive on Gaza City. It came a day after a commission of United Nations experts found Israel was committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Israel denies the allegation.

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the U.N. Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the statement from the aid groups. “States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene.”

The message was signed by leaders of more than 20 aid organizations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Anera and Save the Children.

Frankel and Magdy write for the Associated Press. Magdy reported from Cairo.