Israel's military said Tuesday it will act with "great force" in Gaza City and told residents to leave as it stepped up a deadly assault on the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a similar warning, as Israel intensified its bombardment in preparation for an operation to seize Gaza City despite global calls to end the war.
"To all residents of Gaza City... the defence forces are determined to defeat Hamas and will act with great force in the Gaza City area," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X.
"Evacuate immediately via the Al-Rashid axis," he added.
An AFP photographer in Gaza City saw planes drop hundreds of leaflets urging residents to flee southwards.
"I ask Israel: where are we supposed to go?" 36-year-old Khaled Khuwaiter told AFP after he fled from Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood.
"Bombing and killings are everywhere. We have only God, because the world watches our slaughter and does nothing."
AFP footage from Monday showed those escaping the offensive leaving behind them a scene of utter devastation, where smoke from the aftermath of Israeli strikes wafted behind buildings that had already been reduced to rubble.
Some travelled southwards on trucks and tractor-pulled trailers piled high with people and household furniture, while others had little choice but to push heavy carts by hand.Â
On Monday, Netanyahu had issued a video statement addressing residents of Gaza City: "I say to the residents: you have been warned, leave now!"Â
"All of this is just a prelude, just the opening, to the main intensified operation -- the ground manoeuvre of our forces, who are now organising and assembling to enter Gaza City," he added.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza, said Netanyahu's threat amounted to an "explicit act of forced displacement".
- 'Bombings and ambulances' -
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes continued across Gaza City, and that at least 15 people had been killed across the territory since the early hours of Tuesday.
The agency had said at least 39 people had been killed by Israel on Monday, including 25 in Gaza City.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
On Monday, Israeli forces continued to target high-rise buildings in Gaza City, with AFP footage showing the Al-Roya tower crashing to the ground moments after being struck.
"All we hear are bombings and ambulances carrying martyrs," Laila Saqr, a resident, told AFP by telephone.
Saqr, 40, said she used to visit a gym in the tower twice a week, but now, "nothing is left".
"Israel destroys everything -- even the memories. If they could, they would strip the very oxygen from the air."
Israel said Hamas had used the tower for intelligence gathering and planted explosives in it. It had earlier warned residents and those nearby to evacuate.
Separately, the military announced that four Israeli soldiers were killed when Palestinian militants threw an explosive device into their tank in northern Gaza.
- 'Last warning' -
The assault to seize Gaza City comes as talks to end the war have yet to render an agreement.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that "the Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning".Â
Hamas said that it was ready to "immediately sit at the negotiating table" following what it described as "some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement".
The White House has not released any details about the proposal, but Trump said "you'll be hearing about it pretty soon".
Hamas agreed last month to a ceasefire proposal that involved a 60-day truce and staggered hostage releases.
Israel, however, has demanded the militant group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.
Hamas's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,605 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
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