海角大神

The Israeli army issued evacuation orders and targeted high-rise buildings in聽聽on Saturday, calling on Palestinians to move to the territory's south as it escalates operations ahead of a new offensive to seize the city of nearly 1 million.

Aid groups warn that a large-scale evacuation would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza City, which the聽听飞补迟肠丑诲辞驳听聽as a result of Israel's restrictions on food into the territory.

Most families have already been displaced several times over the nearly two-year-long Israel-Hamas war and say they have nowhere left to go, as the Israeli military has聽聽that it had designated as humanitarian zones.

鈥淭here is no safe tent, no safe house, no safe place, no safety at all,鈥� said Nadia Marouf, who fled Israel's offensive in the north with her children and resettled in Gaza City 鈥� only to have her tent destroyed Saturday in an Israeli airstrike that wiped out a 15-story building and surrounding encampment.

"Where do I go? We went to the south, there is no space in the south, where can we go?鈥�

Israeli army urges Palestinians to move to a 鈥榟umanitarian zone鈥�

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged Palestinians on Saturday to flee to the southern Gaza Strip, announcing on social media that the army had designated the overcrowded tent encampment of Muwasi and parts of the southern town of Khan Younis as a humanitarian zone.

Aid groups have raised alarm about woefully inadequate shelter, sanitation, water and food in Muwasi. Months of bombardment have decimated civilian infrastructure in Khan Younis.

The military said in a statement that it would work to provide field hospitals, water pipelines, and food supplies within what it called the humanitarian zone.

Exhausted and despairing, many Palestinians refused to pack up and leave. Others were too weak or injured to uproot themselves again.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 walk, I am in pain, and I do not know what to do or where to go,鈥� said Ala Alfarani, whose tent was crushed beneath a pile of rubble in Israel's strike on a high-rise in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of south Gaza City.

Israel targets high-rises in Gaza City

Israel on Saturday issued evacuation warnings for two high-rises in Gaza City and surrounding tents, with Mr. Adraee, the military spokesperson, saying that the buildings were targets because Hamas had infrastructure inside or near them. Soon after, Mr.聽Adraee said that the military had struck one of the buildings.

Hamas called those allegations 鈥渂aseless lies鈥� and insisted the high-rises were residential towers.

Residents of Sousi Tower, a prominent 15-story building, told The Associated Press that the Israeli army gave them around 20 minutes to grab their belongings and flee before warplanes razed the building to the ground.

鈥淪uddenly, we were sitting at home and people started shouting,鈥� said resident Aida Abu Kas, recalling the panic and confusion rippling through the building. 鈥淪ome said it was a lie and other said it was real. We went out and didn鈥檛 know what to do.鈥�

There was no immediate information on casualties.

Israel Katz, Israel鈥檚 defense minister, posted a video of the Sousi Tower collapsing in an enormous cloud of smoke along with the words: 鈥淲e continue.鈥�

It was the second tower demolished in as many days. On Friday, Israel hit Mushtaha Tower, a local landmark that housed dozens of families, saying that Hamas militants used it for surveillance. Hamas denied those claims.

The leveling of high-rises comes as Israel ramps up its offensive against Hamas after聽聽of Gaza's largest northern city, where Palestinian families live crammed into tents in the ruins of bombed-out buildings.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military said it had seized control of 40% of the city.

At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday, officials were counting the dead and tending to the wounded from Israeli bombardment the day before.

They said 15 people had been killed, including a family of five whose Gaza City apartment was hit in an airstrike and civilians killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid near the Zikim crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

More than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid at distribution points or along U.N. convoy routes, the Gaza Health Ministry reports, many of them by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those killed Friday.

Israeli hostage families worried about Gaza City offensive

Israelis have聽聽over the military's renewed assault on Gaza City, fearing it will further endanger the remaining hostages held in the strip, 20 among 48 of whom Israel believes to still be alive.

On Saturday in Jerusalem, relatives of hostages and their supporters marched down a main thoroughfare toward the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chanting and holding signs rejecting the military鈥檚 planned takeover of Gaza City and urging a comprehensive ceasefire. 鈥淭he government is burying them alive,鈥� one sign read. 鈥淎n unsigned deal kills them all,鈥� read another.

Fears over the fate of hostages escalated on Friday, the 700th day of the war, when Hamas released a propaganda video of two hostages 鈥� Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Alon Ohel 鈥� looking gaunt and exhausted while being driven around Gaza City.

Ahead of their weekly Saturday protest near the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, families of hostages vented their anger over the intensified bombardment in Gaza City.

鈥淭his is not how you return abducted men and women,鈥� said Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat,聽. 鈥淭his is how you kill abducted men and women.鈥�

A lasting truce has proven elusive. Hamas said it had accepted a ceasefire proposal聽聽last month. Israel has not yet responded to the offer, vowing to continue the war until Hamas disarms and releases all hostages.

Israel also has insisted on retaining open-ended security control of the territory of some 2 million Palestinians 鈥� a condition unacceptable to Hamas.

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others聽.

Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants beyond saying that women and children make up around half the dead.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Mroue reported from Beirut.