The Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders in northern Gaza on Tuesday following strikes across the area that killed at least 30 people, according to Palestinian media and medics.
An airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since Oct. 5 and killed at least 20 people late Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA said.
Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday, medics said.
The Gaza Health Ministry did not immediately confirm the tolls but Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.
The Israeli military claimed without evidence that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. They had also claimed to located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area.
Later Tuesday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over Beit Lahia ordering residents who have not yet left their homes and shelters housing displaced families to quit the town completely.
"To all those who remained at homes and shelters, you are risking your lives. For your safety you have to head south," said the Arabic leaflet.
Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.
Israel claims the evacuations are meant to keep civilians out of harm's way.
More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of Israel's genocide in Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion of southern Isreal that caused 1,200 deaths people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Announcing a rare transfer of patients out of Gaza, a World Health Organization official said more than 100 people would be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday, including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases.
They will travel via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Some will then go on to Romania, he said, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said at least four people were killed Tuesday during an Israeli military raid and airstrikes.
The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted a group of gunmen and that its forces had arrested 60 people.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests.
