‘God, send a missile to relieve us’

• WHO chief says Gaza hospitals on 'brink of collapse'
• Internet, phone lines cut off across Gaza
• Trump says he disagrees with UK's bid to recognise Palestinian state
• Spain says will probe 'rights violations in Gaza'

Israeli tanks and warplanes pounded Gaza City yesterday, prompting long lines of Palestinian civilians to flee as the military intensified its assault on the territory's largest urban hub.

Thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky as AFP journalists and witnesses saw a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, in vehicles and on donkey carts -- their meagre belongings piled high.

"There is artillery fire, air strikes, quadcopter and drone gunfire. The bombing never stops," said Aya Ahmed, 32, sheltering with 13 relatives in Gaza City.

"The world doesn't understand what is happening. They (Israel) want us to evacuate south, but where will we live? There are no tents, no transport, no money."

Palestinians say the cost of a ride to the south has soared, in some cases topping $1,000.

"The situation is indescribable -- crowds everywhere, the sound of explosions, women and men crying and screaming as they walked while carrying their belongings," said Shadi Jawad, 47, describing his family's ordeal as they fled their home on Wednesday.

During the journey, their belongings fell off their truck when it suffered a flat tyre.

"As we were putting the belongings back on it, I looked up at the sky and prayed 'God, send a missile to take us out and relieve us".

The offensive has sparked international outrage, with the territory already devastated by nearly two years of war imposed on it and the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.

"The military incursion and evacuation orders in northern Gaza are driving new waves of displacement, forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

"Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse as escalating violence blocks access and prevents the WHO from delivering lifesaving supplies," he warned.

At least 79 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, most in Gaza City, the territory's health ministry said early afternoon.

The Israeli military said it continued to target "Hamas terror infrastructure" and also operated in the southern areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Israeli media reported that four soldiers were killed inside their military vehicle in the early hours of yesterday in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Telecommunications Company said in a statement that its services had been cut off "due to the ongoing aggression and the targeting of the main network routes".

The US-backed offensive began on Tuesday and came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

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

Navi Pillay, who headed the investigation, told AFP that she hoped Israeli leaders would one day be jailed.

"I see similarities" to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, she said, pointing to "the same kind of methods".

In the United Kingdom, US President Donald Trump yesterday said he disagreed with Prime Minister Keir Starmer over Britain's plan to recognise a Palestinian state, after the leaders discussed the war in Gaza.

"I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score -- one of our few disagreements," Trump said at a press conference with Starmer at the UK prime minister's country residence Chequers on the second full day of his state visit.

The United States has adamantly rejected the notion of countries recognising a Palestinian state, even as France, Canada and other western allies are set to take the step at the United Nations next week.

The UN Security Council was slated to vote yesterday on the latest call for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian access to Gaza, a move supported by a majority seeking to act despite repeated US vetoes.

The draft that is up for a vote, which was reviewed by AFP, calls for opening access to aid but also "demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties" as well as the immediate and unconditional release of hostages.

The United States has already rejected that approach multiple times, most recently in June when it used a veto to back its ally Israel.

Meanwhile, Spain said it will probe "human rights violations in Gaza" to assist the International Criminal Court, which has sought arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced "a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street", as AFP images showed fresh bombardments.

Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours.

The United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings. Israel says 350,000 of them have fled.

"Enough, we want to be free. We want to live, we don't want to die," said Gaza City resident Mohammed al-Danf.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel's military campaign has killed at least 65,141 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.