Israel has launched a major air and ground offensive on Gaza City, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee the territory’s largest urban centre.

Some of those who remained were sheltering in the city centre when air strikes hit them, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

“At least seven deaths, most of them children, and a large number of injuries as a result of three air strikes on a Gaza Municipality warehouse and tents for the displaced in Firas Market,” he told AFP.

Three other people were killed by Israeli bombardment elsewhere in the city; two in an apartment on Al-Sahaba Street and one in the area of Al-Yarmouk Market, Bassal said.

In central Gaza, the civil defence reported “four dead and injuries in a helicopter strike” on a home in Nuseirat.

Another person was killed in an Israeli air strike on a home north of Nuseirat, Bassal said.

Over nearly two years, Israeli military operations have killed 65,382 Palestinians, mostly civilians, says the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN considers reliable.

The war was triggered by the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to official data.

Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.

The US-backed offensive on Gaza City came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as “distorted and false”.

Large parts of Gaza have been laid to waste, and last month a body backed by the United Nations officially declared famine in part of the territory.