Israeli forces are intensifying their attacks on the outskirts of Gaza City, residents say, as the military steps up preparations for a ground offensive to conquer it.
Hospitals said women and children were among more than 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the city on Wednesday, most of them in the north and west.
The Israeli military's chief of staff vowed to 'continue striking Hamas's centres of gravity until it is defeated' and its hostages freed.
The UN and aid groups said the Israeli operations were already having 'horrific humanitarian consequences' for displaced families sheltering in the city, which is home to a million people and where a famine was declared last month.
Meanwhile, Israeli protesters took part in what they called a 'day of disruption' to press their government to immediately agree a deal that would end the war in return for the release of all 48 Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Hospital officials said Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip had killed at least 46 people since midnight. Gaza City's Shifa hospital said it had received the bodies of 21 people, including five killed when an Israeli warplane targeted an apartment in the western Fisherman's Port area.
One of the strikes killed the parents and two sisters of three-year-old Ibrahim al-Mabhuh, his grandmother said. Umm Abu al-Abed Abu al-Jubein told Reuters news agency that she had found him buried underneath the rubble of a destroyed column in the home where the displaced family from the nearby town of Jabalia had been sheltering.
The Israeli military said it was checking reports concerning civilian casualties amid claims of significant destruction in residential areas.
As the military prepares for intensified operations, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, with UN agencies warning of the risks associated with mass displacement across the region. Since August 14, over 82,000 people have been newly displaced, mostly moving towards the crowded coastal areas.
On a political note, regional mediators are reportedly seeking a truce that involves the release of hostages, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled an unwillingness to accept anything short of complete disarmament of Hamas.
