Story highlights

• Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip since last week have killed at least 2,215 people
• Israel designates two “safe routes” for over 1m residents of northern Gaza to leave for the south
• WHO flies Gaza health supplies to Egypt border

Israel pummelled northern Gaza with fresh air strikes on Saturday, one week on from the deadliest attack in its history, as it urged Palestinians to flee the area before an expected ground offensive against Hamas commanders.

AFP reporters near the southern Israeli city of Sderot saw troops fire at the densely populated enclave, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the sky.

A senior Israeli official on Saturday admitted “mistakes” in intelligence assessments ahead of a brutal Hamas attack last weekend that took the country by surprise.

Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas for the offensive a week ago, in which its fighters killed 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, and seized scores of hostages.

It has since put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total siege and bombarded it with unprecedented air strikes.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since last week have killed at least 2,215 people, including 724 children, the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said on Saturday.

Some 458 women were among those killed, the ministry said. It added that 8,714 people have also been wounded, after an earlier statement said at least 324 people were killed in the past 24 hours alone.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that Gaza City residents must not “delay” their departure before an expected ground offensive starts, as people leaving the north of the territory again jammed roads south.

Israel has designated two “safe routes” for more than one million residents of northern Gaza to leave for the south of the blockaded territory.

Military spokesman Richard Hecht said there is a safe passage “window” between 10am and 4pm (1pm GMT) on the roads, down the Gaza coast and through the centre of the narrow Palestinian territory, which is about 40 kilometres long.

Thousands of Gazans packed buses, cars and donkey carts again on Saturday to escape the northern zone, where the bulk of Israeli air and artillery strikes have occurred.

Without saying how many days the window would remain, Hecht told reporters: “We know this is going to take time but we recommend people not to delay.”

Israel has faced calls from the United Nations, United States and European Union to delay an expected full offensive to give civilians time to leave.

US President Joe Biden said consultations were underway with regional governments on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as trapped Palestinians endured a power blackout and shortages of food and water amid fierce Israeli bombing.

“We have seen a significant movement of Palestinian civilians towards the south,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told a video briefing early on Saturday. He did not mention the deadline and did not take questions.

“Around the Gaza Strip, Israeli reserve soldiers in formation (are) getting ready for the next stage of operations. They are all around the Gaza Strip, in the south, in the centre and in the north, and they are preparing themselves for whatever target they get, whatever task.”

“The end state of this war is that we will dismantle Hamas and its military capability and fundamentally change the situation so that Hamas never again has the ability to inflict any damage on Israeli civilians or soldiers.”

Hamas vowed to fight to the last drop of blood and told residents to stay.

An Israeli military spokesperson said on Friday that tank-backed troops had mounted raids to hit Palestinian rocket crews and gather information on the location of hostages, the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the crisis began.

“Where to go?” asked Umm Hossam, 29, who was among the thousands fleeing.

“How long will the strikes and death last? We have no homes left, every area of Gaza is under threat,” said the 29-year-old, her face streaked with tears.

Hamas took about 150 Israeli, foreign, and dual national hostages back to Gaza in the initial attack, Israel has said.

The group said on Friday that 13 of them had been killed in Israeli air strikes.

‘Genocide’

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in Israel on Friday, accused Hamas of using residents as a “shield” in Gaza, where Israel has cut off water, fuel, and food supplies.

US President Joe Biden spoke with the families of 14 Americans who have been missing since the Hamas attack.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to find them,” he told CBS’s “60 Minutes”.

He also stressed that addressing the swelling humanitarian crisis in Gaza was a “priority”.

“The overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and Hamas’s appalling attacks, and they’re suffering as a result as well,” Biden said in a speech.

Tensions have risen across the Middle East and beyond, with angry protests in support of the Palestinians, while Israel faces the threat of a separate confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A Reuters video journalist was killed and six other reporters — from AFP, Reuters, and Al Jazeera — were injured in southern Lebanon close to Israel, caught up in cross-border shelling.

In the occupied West Bank, at least 16 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during protests supporting Gaza, the health ministry said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza.

But Netanyahu’s spokeswoman Tal Heinrich told AFP: “Everything that happens in Gaza is Hamas’s responsibility.” Thousands also demonstrated in support of the Palestinians on Friday in Beirut, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan.

Demonstrations also took place in Bahrain, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting on Saturday, as part of a regional tour seeking to keep calm in the Arab world.

WHO flies Gaza health supplies to Egypt border

The World Health Organisation said on Saturday enough basic health supplies to serve 300,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been flown to an Egyptian airport near the Palestinian enclave.

The supplies were ready to go in once humanitarian access could be established through the Rafah crossing from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip, WHO said.

A plane carrying 78 cubic metres of health supplies from the UN health agency’s logistics hub in Dubai has landed in El Arish airport “to serve the needs of 300,000 people”, including pregnant women.

“Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometres away,” a statement said.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is the only passage in and out of the coastal enclave not controlled by Israel.

It has been closed since Tuesday after three Israeli strikes in less than 24 hours, which damaged the terminal on the Palestinian side.

The WHO supplies include enough medicines to treat 1,200 wounded patients and 1,500 patients suffering from heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems.

There are also enough trauma pouches to treat 235 wounded people, which enable injured people to be stabilised and receive immediate, life-saving care anywhere it is needed.

The WHO called for an immediate opening of a humanitarian crossing through Rafah to deliver food, fuel, water and other essential survival items. “The critically injured, the sick, and the vulnerable cannot wait,” it said.

The first shipment of humanitarian aid arrived in El Arish on Thursday from Jordan, Egyptian state-affiliated media reported. The United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM said the UAE had sent a plane filled with medical aid to El Arish on Friday.

Meanwhile, three Turkish planes filled with humanitarian aid landed on Saturday at El Arish.

China calls on US to play ‘responsible role’ in Israel-Gaza conflict

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said Saturday that Washington should “play a constructive and responsible role” in the Israel-Gaza conflict, during a phone call with his US counterpart Antony Blinken.

“The United States should practically play a constructive and responsible role, pushing the issue back on track for a political settlement as soon as possible,” Wang told Blinken, according to a readout published by the Chinese foreign ministry.