The Israeli military said on Friday it had struck more than 450 targets in Gaza from land, sea and air over the past 24 hours - the most since a truce with Hamas collapsed last week and about double the daily figures typically reported since.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meanwhile declared there was no effective protection of civilians in Gaza and nowhere in Gaza was safe, hours before the UN Security Council was set to vote on a demand for a humanitarian ceasefire there.
With most Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals overrun and food running out, the main UN agency there said society was "on the verge of a full-blown collapse" and its ability to protect people there was "reducing fast".
Residents and the Israeli military both reported intensified fighting in both northern areas, where Israel had previously said its troops had largely completed their tasks last month, and in the south where they mounted a new assault this week.
Gaza's health ministry reported 350 people killed on Thursday, and on Friday it said the death toll from Israel's campaign in Gaza had risen to 17,487, with thousands more missing and presumed buried under rubble. More strikes were reported on Friday morning in Khan Younis in the south, the Nusseirat camp in the centre and Gaza City in the north.
(News & image source: Reuters)
