"They are so thin. It's cold, it's windy," said one Palestinian woman who gave birth to quadruplets in a refugee camp bombed by Israel.
ADVERTISEMENTA Hamas official said Thursday that a “partial or temporary cessation of aggression” wouldn’t be enough to free the more than 100 hostages who Israel says remain in captivity in Gaza.
The Israeli-Hamas war has already driven around 85% of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes, leveling the northern part of the territory and heightening fears about a similar fate for the south as Israel's air and ground offensive widens.
Dozens were killed Thursday during Israel's bombardment of cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza.
More than 20,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants among the dead.
Hamas has put up steep resistance despite Israel's vow to dismantle the militant group.
Israeli forces bombarded cities, towns and refugee camps across Gaza overnight and into Thursday, killing dozens of people in a widening air and ground offensive against Hamas that has forced thousands more to flee from homes and shelters in recent days.
An Israeli airstrike on a home in the northern town of Beit Lahiyeh – one of the first targets of the ground invasion that began in October – buried at least 21 people, including women and children, according to a family member.
Bassel Kheir al-Din, a journalist with a local TV station, told AP that the strike flattened his family house and severely damaged three neighboring homes. He said 12 members of his family – including three children aged 2, 7 and 8 – were buried and presumed dead, and that nine neighbors were missing.
In central Gaza, Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the built-up Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps, leveling buildings, residents said. Israel said this week it would expand its ground offensive into central Gaza, and typically launches waves of airstrikes and shelling before troops and tanks move in.
A hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 25 people killed overnight, including five children and seven women, hospital records showed on Thursday. Nonstop explosions could be heard throughout the night in the town, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter. Many are spending cold nights sleeping on sidewalks.
Warnings of wider conflict on Lebanese border
Israel's army has warned of a possible "expansion" of operations on its border with Lebanon.
This comes as the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) concentrates its military force on central Gaza, despite the increasingly desperate plight of civilians.
The IDF is also increasing night raids in major cities in the occupied West Bank, including Jenin and Ramallah, according to the Wafa news agency.
Israel's army general staff warned shooting was intensifying along its northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah operates.
The Shiite political and militant organisation is part of the "axis of resistance", a collection of groups close to Iran and hostile to Israel.
On Wednesday, Tehran threatened Israel with "direct actions", following the death of a high-ranking Iranian officer on Monday in an airstrike in Syria it blamed on Israel.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi detailed that Israeli forces "are in a very high state of readiness for an expansion of fighting in the north."
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have been an almost daily occurrence here since the fighting began in Gaza.
ADVERTISEMENTNear the Lebanese border, a drone crashed overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the Israeli army told the AFP news agency, after fighters from pro-Iran armed groups claimed responsibility for an attack in the area.
Civilians in Gaza face dire situation
The IDF said military operations were continuing in Khan Younes, southern Gaza's main city, but also in refugee camps in the centre of the enclave.
Palestinian authorities reported deadly strikes overnight on camps in Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah.
In Deir al-Balah, Iman al-Masry gave birth to quadruplets - two boys and two girls - in the middle of the war.
"They are so thin. It's cold, it's windy and there is no baby bath to wash them... I can't give them a bath, I wash them with wipes," said the 28-year-old mother, herself displaced by the violence.
ADVERTISEMENT"There are no diapers or powdered milk. I try to breastfeed them but there is a lack of really nutritious food," she added, fearing Israeli strikes could harm her newborns.
"I didn't think the war was going to last so long. I thought that after ten days we would be able to return home."
"We didn't take anything with us," added her husband Ammar.
Meanwhile, fleeing Palestinians have packed into areas along Gaza's border with Egypt and the southern Mediterranean coastline, where shelters and tent camps are overflowing.
The UN humanitarian office says the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups and their devastating impact is impeding aid deliveries.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Israeli military's air and ground offensive against Hamas has widened to most of the territory. Israel says it is striking militant targets, though homes full of people are regularly crushed.