Sawt Falasteen - Israel expands Gaza campaign ahead of Netanyahu's US visit

The intensified operations came after days of mounting calls for a ceasefire, with US President Donald Trump -- whom Netanyahu is scheduled to meet next week -- among those urging Israel to strike a new deal to halt the war and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza.

Israel's campaign to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas has raged on unabated, however, with Gaza's civil defence agency reporting Israeli forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday.

In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army told AFP it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities".

Separately, it said Tuesday morning that in recent days it had "expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of terrorists and dismantling hundreds of terror infrastructure sites both above and below ground".

Raafat Halles, 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City, said "air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week", and tanks have been advancing.

"I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground," he said. "I don't know why."

Amer Daloul, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, also reported fiercer clashes between Israeli forces and militants in recent days, telling AFP that he and his family were forced to flee the tent they were living in at dawn on Tuesday "due to heavy and random gunfire and shelling".

AFP photographers saw Israeli tanks deploying at the Gaza border in southern Israel and children picking through the rubble of a destroyed home in Gaza City.

Others photographed Palestinians mourning over the bodies of relatives in the city's Al-Shifa hospital and the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.

- Aid seekers killed -

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people were killed near aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza Tuesday, in the latest in a spate of deadly attacks on those seeking food.

He said one person was killed and 50 wounded when tanks and drones opened fire as crowds were waiting to collect aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the middle of the territory.

The civil defence agency said another six people were killed nearby while trying to reach the same aid centre.

At least one more person was killed near another aid centre in Rafah, it added.

Commenting on those incidents, the Israeli military told AFP its forces "fired warning shots to distance suspects who approached the troops", adding it was not aware of any injuries but would review the incidents.

In the Rafah incident, it said the shots were fired "hundreds of metres (yards) away from the aid distribution site", which was "not operating".

Bassal said later that an air strike killed three people in front of a school housing displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, raising the overall toll to 20.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.

- Aid reform call -

A group of 169 aid organisations called Monday for an end to Gaza's "deadly" new US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme which they said was leading to civilian deaths.

They said the system forced starving civilians to "trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race" for food.

They urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Hamas.

The new scheme's administrator, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has distanced itself from reports of aid seekers being killed near its centres.

- PM's US visit -

Netanyahu announced he would visit Trump and senior US security officials next week, amid mounting pressure to end more than 20 months of devastating fighting in Gaza.

"But he (Netanyahu) wants it too.... He wants to end it too," the US president added.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP the group is "ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces".

"So far, there has been no breakthrough."

Y.Zaher--SF-PST