The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had blocked all aid supplies to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with Palestinians, said aid agreed under the cease-fire had been halted, but at Washington’s request, “dozens” of other trucks with water, food and medical supplies had reached the enclave.
A senior US official said the US is working on a plan with Israel to minimize harm to civilians in any military operation in southern Gaza.
Despite the latest casualty reports, Israeli officials in Washington said Israel was working with the US and the UN to reduce civilian casualties using “deconfliction mechanisms”.
“We have learned lessons from our northern Gaza operations and we are implementing them,” he said.
However, medics and witnesses said Friday’s bombardment was most intense in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. Due to fighting in the north, millions of Gazans are taking refuge there.
Leaflets dropped on the eastern areas of Khan Yunis ordered the evacuation of residents of four towns – not in other areas of Khan Yunis as before, but south of Rafah.
“You have been warned,” the leaflets, written in Arabic, read.
Israel released a link to a map showing Gaza divided into hundreds of districts, which it said would be used in the future to outline which areas are safe.
In Rafah, residents pulled several small children, covered in blood and dust, out of a house that had been hit. Mohammed Abu-Elneen, whose father owns the house, said it was sheltering people displaced from elsewhere.