Israeli forces advanced toward central Gaza City on Wednesday, endangering Palestinians who had remained in their homes, hoping that rising international pressure for a cease-fire would spare them from displacement.
U.S. President Donald Trump met leaders of Muslim countries at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, for talks that the Emirati state news agency said focused on a permanent cease-fire in the war, as well as the release of Israeli hostages and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Trump, who earlier condemned moves by several Western countries to put pressure on Israel by recognizing a Palestinian state, said a meeting with Israel would be next.
Israel has pressed on with its brutal military campaign in Gaza City despite repeated calls for it to pull back, urging the population to move south.
Hundreds of thousands have left the city in northern Gaza, but many others have hesitated because of security risks and widespread hunger.
"We moved to the western area near the beach, but many families didn't have the time, tanks took them by surprise," said Thaer, a 35-year-old father of one from Tel al-Hawa.
Israeli forces began closing in on the city of more than a million in August, with Israel claiming it aimed to destroy the last stronghold of Hamas, whose incursion into Israel and seizure of hostages triggered the war nearly two years ago.
On Wednesday, medics said at least 20 people were killed and many others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a shelter housing displaced families near a market in the middle of the city. Two other people were killed in a house nearby, they said.
The Israeli military claimed that the strike had targeted two Hamas members and that its forces tried to reduce harm to civilians in the area.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed people sifting through the rubble.
"We were sleeping in God's care, there was nothing – they did not inform us, or not even give us a sign – it was a surprise," said Sami Hajjaj. "There are children and women, around 200 people maybe, six to seven families – this square is full of families," he said.
In the city's Tel al-Hawa suburb, tanks entered populated areas, trapping people in their homes, while more tanks were seen stationed close to Al-Quds Hospital, witnesses said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an oxygen station had been damaged.
Tanks have also advanced closer to Gaza's largest hospital, al-Shifa, witnesses and the media office said. The Israeli military said Hamas members had opened fire from within the hospital compound, which the group denied.
"We fear that these lies may be a prelude to another raid on the hospital," said Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, in reference to several previous raids by Israeli forces.
Israel's military released grainy aerial footage, which appeared to show gunfire coming from two windows. The military did not immediately respond to Reuters queries about how it established that Hamas members had opened fire and at whom.
A security official in Hamas said that "criminal gangs" had opened fire at the hospital from outside the complex.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the conflicting accounts.
In Gaza's south, seven people were killed in Nuseirat and near Rafah, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which insists its attacks are aimed at ending Hamas rule of the enclave.
Israel has drawn widespread condemnation over its genocidal war on Gaza, where it has killed over 65,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and caused a famine.
International frustration over the war in Gaza prompted some Israeli and U.S. allies to recognize a Palestinian state this week. Support for the war in Israel has also wavered, with 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, still held by Hamas in Gaza and 465 soldiers killed in combat.
