Israel was condemned after 12 Palestinians were killed in pre-dawn air strikes on besieged Gaza.
The embattled enclave – already largely reduced to rubble – has come under renewed and heavy bombardment as plans step up for a large-scale military operation.
Gaza Civil Defence Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: “For the third consecutive day, the Israeli occupation is intensifying its bombardment.
“The Israeli occupation is using all types of weapons – bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes.”
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip claims 100 Palestinians have been killed and 513 injured in the past 24 hours.
It brings the total death toll from Israel’s war in the enclave since the October 7 massacre in 2023 to 61,599, with injuries reaching 154,088.
It is unclear how long a new Israeli military incursion into Gaza could last.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand military control has intensified global outcry over the widespread devastation of the territory and a hunger crisis spreading among the largely homeless population of 2.1 million.
Witnesses and medics said Israeli planes and tanks pounded eastern districts of Gaza City overnight.
Meanwhile five more, including two children, died of starvation and malnutrition. The new deaths raised the number of deaths from hunger to 227, including 103 children, since the war started.
Among the dead were five-year-old Muhammad Zakaria Khader who perished in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza from severe starvation and malnutrition.
His case is one of the recurring tragedies in a humanitarian catastrophe that the UN and aid charities say shames the world.
Israel insists it abides by international law and disputes the size and scale of malnutrition, claiming Hamas is using it as a propaganda tool.
Ahmad Alhendawi, of the UK charity Save the Children, said: “All available evidence indicates that the Government of Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare – a war crime under international law.
“Israeli authorities are obliged to provide aid to and protect civilians, and the international community is obliged to ensure that and enforce international law across the board. This dereliction of legal duty is on all of us. This is a moral scar on our shared humanity and shames the world.”
The Israel-Hamas war erupted in 2023 when terrorists stormed the border and murdered 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages.
Israel’s subsequent ground and air war since has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, left much of the enclave in ruins and wrought a humanitarian disaster with grave shortages of food, drinking water and safe shelter.
Mr Netanyahu wants an outright Israeli takeover and re-settlement of Gaza and has vowed that war will rage until Hamas is eradicated.
