The total death toll in Gaza rose to 8,005 people on Sunday, a statement released by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said. This claim has not yet been independently verified.
UN secretary-general António Guterres has warned the situation in Gaza is “growing more desperate by the hour”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday it had received warnings from Israeli authorities to immediately evacuate al-Quds hospital in the Gaza Strip. The head of the World Health Organization said the report was “deeply concerning”.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that it had struck over 450 Hamas targets within the past 24 hours. This claim has not yet been independently verified.
Thousands of people have broken into several warehouses and distribution centres of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, taking wheat flour and other “basic survival items”, the organisation said.
The Israeli military told civilians in Gaza on Sunday to move south, reiterating that it is increasing its operations and saying that humanitarian efforts, led by Egypt and the US, “will be expanding” south of Wadi Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes hit areas around Gaza’s largest hospital early on Sunday, destroying roads leading to the facility, according to residents interviewed by the Associated Press.
Telephone communications and internet connectivity are reportedly returning to the Gaza Strip, after a blackout that began on Friday night.
The UN security council will meet on Monday following Israel’s expanded ground operations in Gaza, according to diplomats cited in a Reuters update. The United Arab Emirates asked the UN security council on Saturday to meet “as soon as possible” following Israel’s communication blackout across Gaza and its expanded ground operation.
Benjamin Netanyahu has told Israel that the military has opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea. The Israeli prime minister said the war would be “long and difficult”.
