In a post on social media platform X, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said: “We feel pain that the Arab and Islamic countries have not yet submitted any request to the International Court of Justice against the Zionist genocide in Gaza or supported the request of the State of South Africa in this regard.”

“We hope that there will be a remedy, otherwise this official silence will constitute a mandate for the occupation to eradicate what remains of Gaza,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

During the weekend, residents reported intense gun battles in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, as well as in central districts of the densely populated enclave.

Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis killed 50 people, health officials in the hospital there said on Sunday.

Central Gaza has been the focus of a heavier Israeli ground and air offensive in the past two weeks, with residents reporting tank shelling as explosions lit the skies overnight on Sunday.