Israel's military pressed ground operations across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, urging Palestinians to flee an offensive in Rafah city nearly a week into a renewed assault on the Hamas-ruled territory.
The latest evacuation warning follows a deadly flare-up in Lebanon and missiles fired from Yemen, while Israeli troops are again deploying to parts of Gaza despite calls to revive a January truce.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that the war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has killed at least 50,021 people in the territory.
AFP was unable to independently verify the figure. Gaza's civil defence agency said separately, citing its own records, that the death toll has topped 50,000 people.
Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
In a statement on X on Sunday, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army "launched an offensive to strike the terrorist organisations" in a district of the southern city of Rafah, already the target of a major Israeli offensive about a year ago.
In a message that AFP correspondents said also appeared on leaflets dropped over the area by drone, Adraee called on Palestinians there to leave the "dangerous combat zone" in Tal al-Sultan district and move further north.
At a charity kitchen in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city just north of Rafah, 19-year-old Iman al-Bardawil said many displaced Palestinians like her struggle to "afford food and drink".
"We are in the month of Ramadan, which is a blessed month, and people... find themselves obliged to come here," Bardawil told AFP, lamenting "the suffering" she saw around her.
"I'm here to get rice for the children, but it's gone," said Saed Abu al-Jidyan, who like Bardawil had fled his home in northern Gaza.
"The crossings are closed, and my salary has been suspended since the beginning of the war... there is no food in Gaza."
- Top Hamas official killed -
Before its renewed assault, Israel in early March blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into war-ravaged Gaza and cut electricity supplies, in a bid to force Hamas to accept the Israeli terms for an extension of the ceasefire and release the 58 hostages held by Palestinian militants.
The electricity supplied by Israel had fed Gaza's main water desalination plant, and the decision to cut power has aggravated already dire conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people.
The Israeli military said troops were also operating in northern Gaza and working "to expand the security zone" there.
On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the army to "seize more territory in Gaza", warning Israel could annex it if Hamas failed to heed Israel's demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.
Hamas has accused Israel of sacrificing the hostages with its resumption of bombardments, while many of the families of the captives have called for a renewed ceasefire, noting that most of those released alive did so during truce periods.
The military said its "fighter jets struck several Hamas targets" in northern Gaza on Sunday.
An Israeli air strike on Saturday on a displacement camp in the Khan Yunis area killed senior Hamas political official Salah al-Bardawil and his wife, the group said.
Murad al-Najjar, who lives in the area, said he "heard a very loud explosion. Our tents were destroyed... And we saw that a man and his wife were martyred."
Pope Francis called on Sunday for an immediate end to the Israeli strikes and for the resumption of dialogue for the release of hostages and secure a "definitive ceasefire".
According to the Gaza health ministry, at least 637 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli assault since Tuesday.
- 'No more bloodshed' -
The escalation in Gaza coincided with a wave of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon on Saturday in response to rocket fire, which militant group Hezbollah -- an ally of Hamas -- denied responsibility for.
In the most intense escalation since a November ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, the Lebanese health ministry said seven people were killed on Saturday.
On Sunday the health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a border village.
Since intense fighting resumed in Gaza on Tuesday, Hamas has fired rockets and Yemen's Huthi rebels have launched several missiles at Israel.
Early on Sunday, Israel said it had intercepted a missile from Yemen, part of an escalation with the Iran-backed Huthis who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
In Israel, crowds took to the streets on Saturday to protest moves by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for an end to the war.
Signs read "No more bloodshed" and "Stop the war, Now!" to ensure the return of the hostages still in Gaza.
By Cyril Julien With Afp Teams In Gaza