CAIRO/AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 250 people since Thursday morning, local health authorities said on Friday, one of the deadliest phases of genocide since a truce collapsed in March and with a new ground invasion expected soon.
The air and artillery strikes were focused on the northern section of the tiny, crowded enclave, where dozens of people including women and children were martyred overnight, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Khalil al-Deqran.
The Zionist regime has intensified its bombardment and built-up armor along the fence despite growing international pressure for it to resume ceasefire talks and end its blockade of Gaza, where an international hunger monitor has warned of famine.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 5 that Israel was planning an expanded and intensive onslaught as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
An Israeli war official said at the time that the invasion would not be launched before U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his visit to West Asia, which ended on Friday.
The military aggression has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all inhabitants from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people according to Gaza health authorities, while aid agencies say its blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis.
Heavy strikes on Friday were reported in the northern town of Beit Lahiya and in the Jabalia refugee camp, where Palestinian emergency services said many bodies were still buried in the rubble.
Israel’s military said its air force had struck more than 150 targets across Gaza. 
The Israeli military dropped leaflets over Jabalia refugee camp, ordering residents to evacuate south as it intensified airstrikes across Gaza.
Local media reported that an Israeli drone targeted tents 

sheltering displaced people in Tel Al-Zaatar, north of Gaza, setting them on fire.
In Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, men picked through a sea of rubble following the night’s strikes, pulling out sheets of metal as small children clambered through the debris.
Around 10 bodies draped in white sheets were lined up on the ground before being taken to hospital. Women sat crying nearby and one lifted a corner of a sheet to gaze at the dead person’s face.
Ismail, a man from Gaza City who gave only his first name, described a night of horror. “The non-stop explosions resulting from the airstrikes and tank shelling reminded us of the early days of the war. The ground didn’t stop shaking underneath our feet,” Ismail told Reuters via a chat app.
“We thought Trump arrived to save us, but it seems Netanyahu doesn’t care, neither does Trump,” he added.
In just the past 24 hours, hospitals in Gaza received 109 bodies and treated 216 wounded, the health ministry said. Civil defense crews said many victims remained trapped in the streets and beneath collapsed buildings, unreachable due to continued bombardment and access restrictions.
Gaza health officials said over 120 people remained missing in the north as rescue efforts continued.
Since Israel broke the ceasefire in mid-March, its attacks have killed 2,985 people and injured 8,173.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has killed at least 53,119 people and wounded more than 120,214, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s health authorities.
The occupying regime has faced increasing international isolation over its atrocities in Gaza, with even the United States, its staunchest ally, expressing unease over the scale of the destruction and the dire situation caused by its blockade on the delivery of food and other vital aid.
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “troubled” by the humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Netanyahu has dispatched a team to Doha to take part in ceasefire talks with Qatari mediators but he has ruled out concessions.
The Missing Families Forum, which represents some of the families and supporters of the 58 captives still held in Gaza, said that Israel risked missing a “historic opportunity” to bring them home as Trump wound up his visit to the region.