Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, was the focus of Israeli strikes overnight and fighting early Sunday, with Israel saying it has achieved almost complete operational control of northern Gaza.
Israel said it had attacked about 200 targets in Gaza over the past day.
Now, "we focus our efforts against Hamas in southern Gaza," military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told Agence France-Presse.
Hamas said strikes had hit Jabalia and Khan Younis, the birthplace and powerbase of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader in Gaza.
IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari had said the military is nearing complete "operational control" of northern Gaza.
"IDF troops are continuing ground operations in Khan Younis, and at the same time are preparing to expand the activity to additional areas of the Strip, with an emphasis on its south," Hagari said.
However, more than a dozen Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting over the weekend, in what the Israeli military called some of the bloodiest days of fighting since its ground offensive began in Gaza on October 20. On Sunday, Israel said that 153 soldiers had died since the start of the war on October 7.
Demonstrations calling for a cease-fire in Gaza were mounted around the world over the weekend. London, New York, Istanbul and Sanaa were among the locations where rallies were held.
Hamas militants streamed across the Gaza border on October 7 and attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israel. The group, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and others, also seized around 250 hostages, of whom 129 remain in Gaza.
In response, Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched an air, land and sea offensive on Gaza. The Palestinian territory's Hamas government says the war has killed more than 20,000 people, mostly women and children. The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel said Hamas is to blame for the high civilian death toll, citing its use of crowded residential areas and tunnels. Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes since the October 7 terror attack.
On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the White House said.
"I did not ask for a cease-fire," Biden told reporters as he left Washington for Camp David. He called the conversation long and private.
According to a White House statement, Biden emphasized to Netanyahu "the critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation, and the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting."
They also discussed the need to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office later said the prime minister "made clear that Israel would continue the war until achieving all its goals."
On Sunday, during a weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu dismissed reports that the United States had convinced Israel not to expand its military activity.
"Israel is a sovereign nation," Netanyahu said. "Our military decisions are based upon our own calculations."
"The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the IDF and no-one else," he added, saying Israel’s actions are "not dictated by external pressures."
Meanwhile, UNICEF, the U.N.’s agency for children, warned on X on Saturday, "Water and sanitation services in Gaza are at the point of collapse, putting children at serious risk of illness and death."
Israel said Saturday that it has arrested hundreds of alleged militants during the past week. The arrests are in addition to the 700 people already arrested by Israel whom Israel believes also have militant ties.
Reports emerged Saturday that 70 humanitarian trucks had entered southern Gaza through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing.
Gaza is in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Israel had told Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate to southern Gaza, but when they arrived, there were few accommodations for the massive influx of people. About 85% of the 2.3 million people who live in Gaza have been pushed into the south.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday it’s a mistake to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation by the number of trucks.
"The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza," he said. He noted that prerequisites for an effective aid operation don’t exist since there is no guaranteed safety for staff to work in a logistical capacity and resume commercial activity.
Some material for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
