Airstries.

Israel expands ground assault into Gaza as fears rise over airstrikes near crowded hospitals

The Israel-Hamas war has robbed people in Gaza of proper funeral rites as they face overcrowded cemeteries and overwhelmed morgues.

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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops and armor pushed deeper into northern and central Gaza on Monday, as the U.N. and medical staff warned that airstrikes are hitting closer to hospitals where tens of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter alongside thousands of wounded.

Video obtained by the Associated Press showed an Israeli tank and bulldozer in central Gaza blocking the territory’s main north-south highway, which the Israeli military earlier told Palestinians to use to escape the expanding ground offensive.

When asked whether forces had positioned on the road, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said “we expanded our operations” but would not comment on specific deployments.

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The video shows a car approaching an earth barrier across the road, where a tank is parked behind a small building. The car stops and turns around. As it heads away, the tank appears to open fire, and an explosion engulfs the car.

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Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment on Gaza City, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)

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The reporter filming this scene from another car shouts “Come back!” and runs away in fear. Go back!" An ambulance and another vehicle are approaching. Gaza's health ministry later said three people were killed in the vehicle that crashed.

Israel's offensive has deployed troops on both sides of the Gaza Strip and around the northern Gaza Strip in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called "phase two" of the war triggered by Hamas' brutal invasion on Oct. 7. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise sharply as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle in dense residential areas.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north and would no longer be able to escape if the north-south highway is blocked. Around 117,000 displaced people are staying in hospitals in northern Gaza, alongside thousands of patients and staff, hoping they will be safe from strikes, according to U.N. figures.

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Most residents heeded Israel’s orders to flee to the southern part of the besieged territory, but many stayed in part because Israel has also bombarded targets in so-called safe zones.

The death toll among Palestinians passed 8,000, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said. These losses are unprecedented in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. In Gaza, more than 1.4 million people have fled their homes.

On the Israeli side, more than 1,400 people were killed, most of them civilians, in the first Hamas attack, an unprecedented figure.

Israeli forces appear to be advancing deep into the Gaza Strip from the north. Video released by the military on Monday showed armored vehicles moving between buildings and soldiers taking up positions inside houses.

Hagari said additional infantry, armored, engineering and artillery units had entered Gaza and the operations would continue to “expand and intensify,” though Israel has stopped short of calling its operations an all-out invasion.

The military said Monday that overnight its troops had killed dozens of militants who attacked from inside buildings and tunnels. It said that in the last few days, it had struck more than 600 militant targets, including weapons depots and anti-tank missile launching positions. The reports of targeting could not be independently confirmed.

Hamas’ military wing said its militants clashed with Israeli troops who entered the northwest Gaza Strip with small arms and anti-tank missiles. Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, including toward its commercial hub, Tel Aviv.

Also Sunday, the largest convoy of humanitarian aid yet — 33 trucks — entered southern Gaza from Egypt. Relief workers say the amount is still far less than what is needed in the territory, where the population of 2.3 million people has been running low on food, water, medicine and fuel after weeks under Israeli siege.

On Saturday, crowds of people broke into four U.N. facilities and took food supplies in what the U.N called a sign that civil order was starting to break down amid increasing desperation.

Israel’s siege has pushed Gaza’s infrastructure nearly to collapse. With no central power for weeks, hospitals are struggling to keep emergency generators running to operate incubators and other life-saving equipment. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, has been trying to keep water pumps and bakeries running. Last week, U.N. officials said hunger was growing.

The increase in aid trucks came after U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized to Netanyahu “the need to immediately and significantly” increase the entry of humanitarian aid, the U.S. said.

Israel also opened two water lines in southern Gaza within the past week, according to the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. The Associated Press could not independently confirm whether both lines were working.

On Sunday, communications were restored to most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents who had been without phone or internet access for more than 24 hours.