Israeli tanks advance into northern Gaza, warplanes strike Rafah: residents

Israeli tanks have pushed back into some areas of northern Gaza which they had left weeks ago, while warplanes conducted air strikes on Rafah, killing and wounding several people, medics and residents said.

Palestinian residents reported on Tuesday an internet outage in the areas of Beit Hanoon and Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Tanks advanced into Beit Hanoon and surrounded some schools where displaced families have taken refuge, said the residents and media outlets of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

"Occupation soldiers ordered all families inside the schools and the nearby houses where the tanks had advanced to evacuate. The soldiers detained many men," one resident of northern Gaza said.

Beit Hanoon, home to 60,000 people, was one of the first areas targeted by Israel's brutal ground offensive in Gaza last October.

Heavy bombardment turned most of Beit Hanoon, once known as 'the basket of fruit' because of its orchards, into a ghost town comprising piles of rubble.

Many families who had returned to Beit Hanoon and Jabalia in recent weeks after Israeli forces withdrew, began moving out again on Tuesday because of the new raid, some residents said.

Palestinian health officials said in one strike, Israel killed four people and wounded several others in Rafah, where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are sheltering and bracing for a planned Israeli ground invasion.

After six months of fighting, there is still no sign of a breakthrough in US-backed talks led by Qatar and Egypt to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Gunmen targeted

The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in central Gaza and that they had killed "several gunmen" who allegedly attempted to attack them.

"Furthermore, over the past day, IDF fighter jets and aircraft destroyed a missile launcher along with dozens of terrorist infrastructure, terror tunnels, and military compounds where armed Hamas terrorists were located," it added.

In Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, residents said Israeli planes had bombed and destroyed four multi-storey residential buildings on Tuesday.

Israel is still imposing "unlawful" restrictions on humanitarian relief for Gaza, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday, despite assertions from Israel and others that barriers have eased.

Israel is under international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, especially northern areas where famine is expected by May, according to the United Nations.