Fierce fighting reported in northern Gaza amid mass evacuations
Israeli troops are engaged in fierce fighting with armed Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Sunday.
The military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas cited heavy clashes between its fighters and Israeli forces in the area of Jabalia, some 4 kilometres north of Gaza City.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said the previous evening that warplanes had attacked targets in Jabalia after the civilian population there had been evacuated.
The Times of Israel wrote on Sunday that the army had called for an estimated 100,000-150,000 Palestinians in the Jabalia area to be evacuated.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has expressed "extreme concern" about evacuation calls for both Jabalia as well as Rafah in the south.
The clashes in the north have highlighted apparent differences between Israel's political and military leaders over strategy in the Gaza war.
Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly complained to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the lack of a political strategy for the post-war period meant that the army was now fighting in places such as Jabalia, which it had previously taken and withdrawn from.
According to media reports, Israeli soldiers are also still deployed in other locations in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip reportedly hit a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.
Three people were injured in the overnight attack on the city about 10 kilometres north of Gaza, according to Israeli media reports on Sunday.
The Israeli Kerem Shalom border crossing was also targeted again on Saturday, according to the Israeli army. Militants fired four missiles at the crossing, which is used to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
One was intercepted by Israel's missile defence system, while the others hit uninhabited areas.
Israel is preparing for an increase in attacks on its territory as the military penetrates deeper into the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The offensive into the city has been heavily criticized internationally, including by Israel's allies, but the Israeli leadership sees it as necessary to achieve its stated war aim of completely eliminating Hamas.
