Israel will expand ground operations tonight and has warned residents of Gaza City to move south.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), said: “In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening.
“The IDF is acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”
Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive.
It comes after Israeli forces said they had carried out more raids into Gaza – including a navy operation.
Israel-Gaza latest: Israel to expand ground operations in Gaza tonight; civilians warned to move south
The IDF said troops had used vessels to attack “Hamas military infrastructure”, with support from aircraft, along the coast in the southern Gaza Strip last night.
Officials released footage of what they said was the raid, but did not go into further details.
The video showed explosions near the sea and soldiers firing their weapons in the dark.
However, Hamas disputed the IDF’s version of events in a statement and said its forces had repelled the raiders, Israeli media reported.
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Israeli forces also said they carried out a separate ground raid in the outskirts of Gaza City on Thursday night, as part of a second wave of recent incursions into the territory.
More than one million have fled their homes
According to Gaza authorities, more than 7,300 Palestinians have now been killed in waves of airstrikes by Israel in retaliation for a cross-border massacre carried out by Hamas in the south of the country on 7 October.
Officials said the dead include more than 3,000 children and more than 1,500 women.
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More than 1,400 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during the initial Hamas attack, according to the Israeli government.
It also said Hamas is holding at least 224 captives inside Gaza, including women, children and the elderly.
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The overall number of deaths far outstrips the combined total of all four previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, estimated at around 4,000.
More than one million people in Gaza have fled their homes, with many following Israeli orders to evacuate to the south.
The humanitarian crisis sparked by the war and the Israeli siege has sparked protests across the region, and more demonstrations are expected later on Friday after weekly Muslim prayers.
‘Crucial humanitarian assistance’
It comes as six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) trucks arrived in Gaza carrying medical and water purification supplies.
The ICRC’s Fabrizio Carboni said: “This crucial humanitarian assistance is a small dose of relief, but it´s not enough.
“Our surgical team and medical supplies will help relieve the extreme pressure on Gaza’s doctors and nurses.
“But safe, sustained humanitarian access is urgently needed.
“This humanitarian catastrophe is deepening by the hour.”
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has warned remaining public services in Gaza are collapsing fast with fuel and food shortages.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the international community “seems to have turned its back on Gaza.”
Gaza’s sole power station shut down for lack of fuel days after the start of the war, and Israel has barred all fuel deliveries, saying it believes Hamas would steal them for military purposes.
