Gaza rescuers say 400 killed in two-week Israeli assault in north

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Saturday that a sweeping Israeli military operation has killed more than 400 people in two weeks in the territory's north, where Israel kept hammering militant targets while fighting Hizbollah in Lebanon.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that "we have recovered more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip," including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since the Israeli operation began.

The actual death toll may be higher, Bassal told AFP, as "there are dozens of bodies scattered in the streets of Jabalia."

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the civil defence agency's reports out of Gaza, including that an overnight air raid on Jabalia killed 33 people. The violence has dashed hopes Sinwar's death on Wednesday might bring the war closer to an end.

"We always thought that when this moment arrived... our lives would return to normal," 21-year-old Gazan Jemaa Abu Mendi said. "But unfortunately," Mendi said, "the war has not stopped, and the killings continue unabated."

'Lost everything'

Israel has faced mounting criticism over the civilian toll and lack of food and aid reaching Gaza, where the UN has warned of famine.

As fighting raged on in northern Gaza, witnesses told AFP that air strikes continued to pound the area during the day.

Medics said Israeli forces were shelling the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza. The military reported troops operating near the facility but said "no intentional fire" was directed at it.

"Another 20,000 people were forced to flee Jabalia camp" on Friday, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

On social media platform X, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini reported "critical shortage of fuel and medical supplies... in the last remaining hospitals."