Children hold some of the leaflets dropped by the Israeli military, urging evacuation to al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip, as occupation forces step attacks, on September 12, 2025. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
Gaza City: Israeli military operations killed 50 people in Gaza on Friday, the territory's civil defence agency said, as the army stepped up its attacks on Gaza City.
Israel has said it intends to capture the territory's largest urban centre, which it describes as one of the last strongholds of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.
The United Nations and members of the international community have warned against the assault for fear it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza City, where the UN has declared a famine.
Britain, France and Germany called in a joint statement for an "immediate" halt to the offensive, saying it was causing civilian casualties and destroying key infrastructure.
Gaza's civil defence agency said 35 people were killed in the city on Friday, along with another 15 in other parts of the territory.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Al-Nassr Street in Gaza City on September 12, 2025. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
The Israeli military said it was continuing "its wide-scale strikes on terrorist infrastructure and high-rise structures" in Gaza City.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
Israel began targeting tall buildings in the area a week ago, saying they were being used by Hamas.
It said Friday that it would "intensify the pace of targeted strikes" in order to disrupt Hamas and "reduce the threat to our troops as part of preparations for the next stages of the operation".
Palestinians check a destroyed building following overnight Israeli army bombardment on al-Shati camp for Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, on September 12, 2025. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
A single strike in the northwest of Gaza City killed 14 people, the civil defence said.
"The majority of them are children and women," relative Hazem al Sultan told AFP.
At the city's Al-Shifa hospital, mourners prayed over the the dead wrapped in white shrouds, some of them the size of children.
The military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike.
While the army has issued multiple evacuation warnings for Gaza City, many residents have told AFP they have nowhere else to go, noting Israel has repeated struck the area in the south to which it has urged people to move.
The UN estimates there were around one million people in and around Gaza City as of late August, and has warned that evacuating them all could have disastrous consequences.
The army said it was taking steps to "increase the volume of aid entering into the humanitarian area" in the south in preparation for receiving displaced Gaza City residents.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,756 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.
