About 100,000 Palestinians trapped in Gaza's north due to Israeli assault

Israeli tanks thrust deeper into two north Gaza towns and a historic refugee camp, trapping around 100,000 civilians, the Palestinian emergency service said.

The Israeli military claimed on Monday soldiers captured around 100 suspected Hamas fighters in a raid into Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia camp. Hamas and medics have denied any presence at the hospital.

Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 19 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes and bombardment, 13 of them in the north of the shattered coastal territory.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies.

The emergency service said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week-long Israeli assault back into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out viable Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.

Ceasefire efforts

As talks led by the US, Egypt and Qatar to broker a ceasefire resumed on Sunday after multiple abortive attempts, Egypt's president proposed an initial two-day truce to exchange four Israeli captives of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners, to be followed by talks within 10 days on a permanent ceasefire.

There was no public comment from Israel or Hamas, who have stuck to irreconcilable conditions for ending the war.

Gaza's war has kindled wider Middle East conflict, raising fears of global instability, with Israeli forces invading south Lebanon to stop Hezbollah rocketing northern Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza.

It has also triggered rare direct clashes between Middle East arch-foes Israel and Iran. At the weekend, Israeli warplanes pounded missile sites in Iran in retaliation for an October 1 Iranian missile volley at Israel.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Monday Tehran would "use all available tools" to respond to Israel's weekend attack.

Israeli strikes on Gaza hospitals

North Gaza's three hospitals, where officials refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. At least two had been damaged by Israeli fire during the assault and run out of medical, food and fuel stocks.

At least one doctor, a nurse and two child patients had died in those hospitals due to a lack of treatment in the past week.

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said there was only one of roughly 70 medical staff — a paediatrician — left at Kamal Adwan Hospital after Israel "detained and expelled" the others.

The Israeli military said soldiers who raided the hospital "apprehended approximately 100 terrorists from the compound, including terrorists who attempted to escape during the evacuation of civilians. Inside the hospital, they found weapons, terror funds, and intelligence documents".

North Gaza residents said Israeli forces were besieging schools and other shelters housing displaced families, ordering them out before rounding up men and ushering women and children out of the area towards Gaza City and the south.