Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in the Zeitun neighbourhood were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment.
He said that about 50,000 people are estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, “the majority of whom are without food or water” and lacking “the basic necessities of life”.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swaths of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency, the Israeli military and other sources.
In recent days, Gaza City residents have told AFP of more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including in Zeitun, while earlier this week resistance group Hamas denounced “aggressive” Israeli ground incursions.
To Bassal, Israel was carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in Zeitun.
Israeli officials have dismissed similar accusations before, and the military insists it abides by international law.
Earlier this month, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved plans to seize Gaza City, one of the most densely populated parts of the territory which has been devastated by more than 22 months of war.
Yesterday, the Israeli military said its troops were operating in Zeitun.
Ghassan Kashko, 40, who shelters with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, said: “We don’t know the taste of sleep.”
He said air strikes and tank shelling were causing “explosions… that don’t stop”.
The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition.
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.
According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed today were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and in the south.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable.