GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 50 people across the Palestinian territory on Friday.

The Israeli military is pressing an offensive in Gaza City, from which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee in recent weeks.

The civil defense agency -- a rescue force operating in Gaza -- reported at least 50 Palestinians killed across the territory since dawn, 30 of them in Gaza City.

Israel's military said the air force had during the past day "struck over 140 targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, tunnel shafts (and) military infrastructure".

AFP footage from Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City showed heavy damage to buildings after an air strike.

Searching through rubble

A barefoot young girl was among those searching through the rubble for belongings. Toppled poles left a web of cables on the ground.

Netanyahu said at the United Nations on Friday that the military had "crushed the bulk" of Hamas's "terror machine" and sought to finish the job "as fast as possible."

He said his speech was being partially broadcast in Gaza on military loudspeakers.

A statement from his office said the military had "taken over the telephones of Gaza residents and Hamas members", and that the address was being broadcast live on the devices.

"It's a lie -- we haven't received any messages or anything on the phone, and we didn't hear any loudspeakers," said Randa Hanoun, 30, a displaced Palestinian living in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

"This is just an attempt to stir fear in our hearts and to make us pay attention to Netanyahu's speech... But we don't care about his speeches and we don't want to hear a single word from him."

Two AFP contributors in southern Gaza and one in Gaza City said they hadn't heard the speech on the loudspeakers, nor received anything on their phones.

‘10 people in a small tent’

Israel launched its ground offensive on Gaza City on September 16. The military said on Thursday that 700,000 Palestinians had fled the urban hub since late August.

The UN humanitarian office said the displacement of 388,400 people had been recorded since mid-August, most of them from Gaza City.

Um Youssef al-Shaer, a 50-year-old displaced Palestinian living in the tent city of of Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast, told AFP that the area had become overcrowded as more and more Palestinians sought refuge there.

"We are piled on top of each other in a single tent -- me, my husband, our six children and my husband's elderly parents -- 10 people in a small tent," she said.

Over nearly two years, Israeli war on Gaza have killed at least 65,549 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza, figures the UN considers reliable.

Articles tagged with "Gaza civil defense"

Israeli forces kill at least 50 Palestinians: Gaza civil defense