More Palestinian families left Gaza City on Tuesday after a night of Israeli shelling on its outskirts, as Israelis launched a day of nationwide protests calling for hostages to be released and the war in Gaza to end.
Despite widespread protests at home and international condemnation, Israel is preparing to launch a new offensive in Gaza City, in what it describes as Hamas' last bastion.
The Israeli military has said its forces are operating in the area to locate weapons and destroy tunnels used by Hamas.
Residents said Israeli aerial and tank shelling continued throughout the night and early on Tuesday in the eastern Gaza City suburbs of Sabra, Shejaia, and Tuffah, as well as in Jabalia town to the north, destroying roads and houses.
"Earthquakes, we call it, they want to scare people to leave their homes," said Ismail, 40, a Gaza City resident.
At least 34 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight and on Tuesday, local health authorities said, including 18 people around Gaza City.
Around half of the Strip's two million people currently live in Gaza City, with several thousand already moved westward, pouring into the heart of the city and along the coast.
Others have ventured further south to central Gaza and the coastal area of Al-Muwasi near Khan Younis.
Israeli 'Day of Disruption' on Tuesday
Over in Tel Aviv, Israeli protesters blocked roads on Tuesday and elsewhere in the country, holding up pictures of hostages still held in Gaza and calling for the war to end. A rally planned outside Israel's defence headquarters later on Tuesday is expected to draw thousands of people.
"For 690 days, the government has been waging a war without a clear objective," said Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, in a statement with other hostage families who launched the so-called 'Day of Disruption.'
"How will the hostages, the living and the fallen, be returned? Who will govern Gaza the day after? How do we rebuild our country?" she said.
Nasser Hospital hit on Monday
Israeli strikes at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday (25 August) killed at least 20 people, including journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.
Cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, was one of those who died near a live broadcasting position operated by Reuters.
Other journalists who died were, Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera's Mohammad Salama, Mariam Abu Daqqa a freelance journalist working for AP at the time, Moaz Abu Taha a freelancer who also worked for Reuters and various other organisations, and Ahmed Abu Aziz.
Photographer Hatem Khaled, also a Reuters contractor, was wounded.
A Reuters spokesperson said it was "devastated" to hear of the deaths and injuries and said it "asked authorities in Gaza and Israel to help us get urgent medical assistance for Hatem."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap," but the Israeli military has yet to provide details of the incident.
World leaders condemned the killings, and the Palestinian presidency urged the international community to provide protection for journalists and hold Israel accountable.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said Israel's strikes represented "an open war against free media, with the aim of terrorising journalists and preventing them from fulfilling their professional duty of exposing its crimes to the world".
The war began on 7 October, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.
Israel's military offensive against Hamas has since killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, plunged the Strip into a humanitarian crisis and internally displaced nearly its entire population.
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