Battles raged in Gaza on Saturday as Israel's army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the Palestinian territory three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country's history.

The armed wing of Hamas said late Friday its fighters were battling Israeli forces inside Gaza, after Israel said it would expand its ground operations against the Palestinian militant group in the territory

Drones caused explosions that rocked two Egyptian towns on the Red Sea on Friday, the Egyptian army said, while Israel said Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement sent them to strike Israel

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly called for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas and demanded aid access to the besieged Gaza Strip and protection of civilians

The Israeli military said Friday it was expanding its ground operations in Gaza as it unleashed one of the fiercest bombardments in three weeks of war with the territory's Hamas rulers

The latest coverage on the Israel-Hamas war as the stories unfold

The United Nations said Friday it was concerned that war crimes were being committed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The United Nations warned Friday that "many more will die" as a result of Israel's ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip, saying basic services in the Palestinian territory were "crumbling".

Israeli ground forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out a night-time targeted raid in central Gaza Strip, the army said Friday, as it prepares for a land invasion

Almost half of Israelis want to hold off on any invasion of Gaza, according to a poll published on Friday, in what may indicate a dip in support for the planned next stage of the counter-offensive against Hamas militants holding some 200 hostages

The Hamas-run health ministry said Thursday that at least 7,028 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes since the militant group's October 7 attacks on Israel.

Israeli efforts to rehabilitate southern communities ravaged by the October 7 Hamas onslaught will take years and go beyond a planned ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet said on Thursday.

Israel needs to agree to a full ceasefire in Gaza in order enable urgently needed humanitarian aid to be brought in, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Thursday in The Hague.

The United Nations issued a stark warning Thursday that "nowhere is safe" in Gaza amid stepped up Israeli air raids in preparation for a widely expected ground offensive.

Britain will convene a meeting of the government's COBRA emergency response committee on Thursday to consider its strategy and approach towards Gaza and the Israeli-Hamas conflict, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Times Radio.

The latest coverage on the Israel-Hamas war as the stories unfold

The Israeli army carried out a "targeted raid" overnight in northern Gaza with tanks and infantry, it said in a statement Thursday, as it prepared its forces for a ground invasion.

Al Jazeera said the wife, son and daughter of one of its correspondents in Gaza were killed on Wednesday night in an Israeli air strike that the Hamas-run enclave's health ministry said killed at least 25 people

Israel bombarded Hamas targets as it prepared for a ground invasion, with Russia warning the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East, and as world powers failed to secure plans to deliver critical humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Wednesday that 6,546 people have been killed in the territory since the outbreak of war with Israel.