The Israeli army launched a ground operation in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday amid a renewed assault on the Palestinian enclave.
The army claimed in a statement that its forces and the Shin Bet domestic security forces struck Hamas infrastructure in Beit Lahia before the start of the ground offensive.
On Wednesday, the army said that it started a "pinpoint" ground operation in central and southern Gaza to expand a buffer zone in central Gaza.
And on Thursday, the army banned Palestinians from traveling through the Salah al-Din Street, a route designated for safe passage between northern Gaza and the south.
More than 700 Palestinians were killed and over 900 others injured in a surprise aerial campaign by Israel on Gaza since Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 112,000 others injured in a brutal Israeli military campaign in Gaza since October 2023.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
