Gun battles between Israel and fighters from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller Palestinian factions intensified overnight into some of the fiercest in months in both northern and southern Gaza, Reuters reports.

Israeli tanks reached densely populated neighbourhoods and narrow alleyways of Jabalia in the northeast, facing heavy resistance. Residents said the army destroyed clusters of homes there in areas where they had not invaded before.

Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service and health ministry said rescue teams have been unable to reach areas where the army was operating to respond to calls for help.

In Rafah — the city in southernmost Gaza where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering from fighting elsewhere, troops continued to operate in the eastern Al-Salam and Jeneina neighbourhoods and also in the southeast, residents said.

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