GAZA/DOHA/TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli tanks on Friday mounted a new push into southern Gaza's main city, which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven there by Israeli bombardment, once more approaching the enclave's biggest functioning hospital.
Twelve people were killed in Israeli strikes on a residential building near the largely non-functioning Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north of the enclave, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli forces have made limited withdrawals from northern Gaza this month, saying operations there were largely complete.
But Palestinians in the southern Gaza City suburb of Tel Al-Hawa said Israeli tanks pushed back into the neighbourhood, forcing people taking shelter in some schools there to evacuate and head south.
The Islamic Jihad militant group said it had fought with Israeli forces in the Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza and in Khan Younis, while Hamas's armed wing said its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces in several areas across Gaza overnight and on Friday morning.
Persons:
Khan Younis, Hawa, Benjamin Netanyahu, NETANYAHU, Netanyahu, Matthew Miller, A'Hed's, Hani Bseiso, Bseiso, Nidal al, Ibraheem Abu, Henriette Chacar, Kevin Liffey, Philippa Fletcher
Organizations:
Reuters, Hospital, Nasser Hospital, Shifa, Islamic Jihad, . State Department, UNICEF
Locations:
GAZA, DOHA, TEL AVIV, Gaza's, Gaza, Gaza City, Tel Al, United States, Israel, Jordan, That's, Tel Aviv, Palestinian, Gaza . Washington, Al, Mughrabi, Doha, Ibraheem, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa