The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it would "allow Palestinians to use a major highway in the Gaza Strip as part of efforts to encourage civilians to evacuate southward, away from areas where it is focusing its war against the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)." In an Arabic post on the social media platform X, the army stated: "We will allow passage on Salah al-Din Road today, between the hours of 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM. For your safety, take the upcoming time to move south beyond the Gaza Valley. If you care about yourselves and your loved ones, head south."
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that the death toll from Israeli attacks in the region since October 7 has risen to 9,488, including 3,900 children.
Eyewitnesses reported on Saturday that dozens of fatalities resulted from Israeli shelling of a school housing displaced people in Jabalia Camp in northern Gaza. Palestinian media indicated that the Al-Fakhoura School, operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), was hit, resulting in over 150 dead and injured.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported on Saturday that two people were killed and others injured when Israeli forces struck the entrance of Al-Nasr Children's Hospital in Gaza City. Palestinian media noted that airstrikes occurred on Al-Quds Hospital in Tal al-Hawa in Gaza.
Reports stated that an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential tower on Omar Al-Mukhtar Street in downtown Gaza, with casualties and injuries also reported from Israeli shelling of the Al-Basatat market in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza. Earlier, the Israeli army released a video of its ground operations in northern Gaza, claiming it engaged with 15 armed Hamas militants there.
The "Times of Israel" reported that the Israeli army stated its forces executed an incursion in southern Gaza while operations continued, encountering a Hamas cell that emerged from one of the tunnels, which the army claimed it killed.
Furthermore, Hamas-affiliated media reported that an Israeli drone launched a missile at the home of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, who is currently outside the enclave. The Palestinian Information Center noted that the drone targeted Haniyeh's home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza, signaling potential subsequent bombardment by warplanes.
In addition, Palestinian media indicated Israeli bombardment of a water tank supplying neighborhoods in Rafah in southern Gaza, as well as strikes on Al-Rasheed coastal road in western Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes intensified across several areas in Gaza, with Palestinian television reporting what it described as violent assaults on locations in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza and the Al-Nasr neighborhood in western Gaza, leading to seven fatalities, along with more than 20 airstrikes reported on the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza.
The Israeli army carried out multiple airstrikes on Khan Younis, south of Gaza, and in the Al-Qarara area east of it, resulting in dozens of casualties. Meanwhile, media sources reported clashes between the Israeli army and elite Hamas forces around the Zikim military base overlooking the beaches of Ashkelon, resulting in the deaths of six Hamas members and four Israeli soldiers, one of whom is in critical condition.
According to sources, the clashes occurred following an attempt to infiltrate using divers and armed individuals on paragliders. Previously, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that Israel has killed 10 Hamas leaders since the beginning of the conflict.
In response, the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades announced that they targeted Tel Aviv with barrages of rockets, with the Iron Dome system intercepting several rockets launched towards Tel Aviv and central Israeli cities.
In another development, the Palestinian news and information agency reported that Israeli aircraft targeted the Al-Attatirah and Al-Sudaniyah areas and northern Beit Lahiya, as well as homes in Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, the Al-Nasr neighborhood, and the surroundings of the Indonesian hospital in Gaza City, and the Al-Tuffah neighborhood east of the city, as well as the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps.
