San Francisco Frontiers - Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill dozens

Israel launched a major air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip's main urban centre on September 19, in what it says is a bid to root out Hamas after nearly two years of war.

The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings, where it has declared a famine.

The Israeli military says roughly 550,000 people have since fled the city and moved southward, while Gaza's civil defence agency -- a rescue force operating under Hamas authority -- puts the number at around 450,000.

Thaer Saqr, 39, told AFP his sister was killed as the family headed south.

"The tanks on the coastal road... opened fire on us, and my sister was killed," he said on Wednesday after returning to Gaza City.

From Al-Shifa Hospital, he said he "will not leave, even if they kill us all."

The civil defence agency said that hundreds of families had been sleeping on the ground for days after fleeing from northern Gaza, unable to secure temporary shelter.

"I appeal to the world: help us," Saqr said. "I say to Israel: you want us to evacuate, but how can we when we have no shekels, no transportation, and no place to go?"

- 'Pitiful sight' -

The civil defence said Israeli forces killed 40 people in attacks across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 22 killed by three air strikes on a warehouse sheltering displaced people near the Firas market in Gaza City.

An AFP journalist at the scene reported that several children were among those pulled from the rubble.

When asked for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said that it had struck "two Hamas terrorists" in the north, where Gaza City is located, without offering more details.

Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.

AFP footage following the attack showed Palestinians combing through large piles of rubble and warped metal as two men carried away a body wrapped in tattered blankets.

In the aftermath, sobbing women knelt over their loved ones, hugging their lifeless bodies wrapped in white shrouds.

At least six bodies were laid out on the ground, including two the size of children.

Mohammed Hajjaj, who lost his relatives, told AFP that "heavy bombing" hit the building while people were asleep.

"We came and found children and women torn apart. It was a pitiful sight."

Another eight people were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre near Khan Yunis in the south, according to Gaza's civil defence. Israel's army told AFP it was not aware of the incident.

"These distributions are death traps, and I advise everyone to prevent their children from going to them", Hosni Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was killed, told AFP in the aftermath.

In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said it received 11 bodies Wednesday, "most of them dismembered" after a strike near the Nuseirat refugee camp.

- 'Death was near' -

In launching its US-backed ground offensive, the Israeli military told Palestinians to go to a "humanitarian area" in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi in the south.

Israel has carried out repeated strikes on the area since declaring it a safe zone early in the war.

Mahmud al-Dreimly, 44, said on his way to find a tent for his family to shelter in Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighbourhood, he "felt death was near".

"I saw tanks firing into the air and sometimes at people," he told AFP.

Dreimly said he saw tanks in the Tel al-Hawa and Al-Sabra neighbourhoods, as well as on the outskirts of Al-Rimal.

The launch of the ground assault came as a UN probe accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Gaza Strip.

Israel rejected the findings and slammed the probe as "distorted and false".

Over nearly two years, Israeli military operations have killed at least 65,419 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.

Hamas's attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

C.Lewis--SFF