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GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighbourhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.

The warning came hours after the United Nations said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2.

Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a "temporary ceasefire" in Gaza, but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.

In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was "operating with intense force" in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accusing "terrorist organisations" of operating there.

The army issued a similar warning for northern Gaza on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.

It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.

After Israel announced it would allow in limited aid, the United Nations "collected around 90 truckloads of goods from the Kerem Shalom crossing and dispatched them into Gaza", said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.

In Gaza, the Hamas government media office reported the arrival of 87 aid trucks, which it said were allocated to international and local organisations to meet "urgent humanitarian needs".

Netanyahu said it was necessary to "avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action" in Gaza.

Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies, with Israel's blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages.

Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza's civil defence agency reporting at least 19 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday.

Umm Talal al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as "unbearable".

"No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven't received anything," she said.

"We barely manage to prepare one meal a day."

UN agencies have said that the amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis.

"I am tormented for my children," Hossam Abu Aida, another resident of the Gaza Strip, told AFP.

"For them, I fear hunger and disease more than I do Israeli bombardment," the 38-year-old added.

 'Complex reality'

The army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza's Hamas rulers, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza.

European Union foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc's cooperation accord with Israel.

Israel's foreign ministry has said the EU action "reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing".

Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.

Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

There has been a global spike in anti-Semitic attacks since Hamas's attack, with a gunman shouting "free Palestine" as he shot dead two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

Britain, France, Germany, the United States and other countries around the world all condemned the shooting.

Netanyahu said Wednesday Israel would be ready "if there is an option for a temporary ceasefire to free hostages", noting that at least 20 held by Hamas and its allies were still believed to be alive.

Gaza's health ministry said Thursday at least 3,613 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,762, mostly civilians. 

JENIN, Palestinian Territories — Israeli troops fired warning shots during a visit by foreign diplomats to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the military said, drawing condemnation as pressure mounted on Israel to allow aid into war-battered Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to hold to account those responsible for the shooting near Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups and a frequent target of Israeli raids.

The Palestinian foreign ministry accused Israel of having "deliberately targeted by live fire an accredited diplomatic delegation". A European diplomat said the group had gone to the area "to see the destruction" caused by months of Israeli operations.

The Israeli military said "the delegation deviated from the approved route", prompting troops to fire "warning shoots" to keep them away from "an area where they were not authorised to be".

In said it "regrets the inconvenience caused" by the shooting, which resulted in no injuries.

The incident came as international pressure intensified over the war in Gaza, where Palestinians were desperate for supplies after a two-month aid blockade was eased.

Rescue teams in the Palestinian territory said overnight Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people, including a week-old baby.

 'Unbearable' 

Israel said 93 trucks had entered Gaza on Tuesday but faced accusations the amount fell far short of what was required. The United Nations said the aid had been held up.

The world body on Monday said it had been cleared to send in aid for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2 in a move leading to critical shortages of food and medicine.

Umm Talal Al Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian living in an area of Gaza City, described the situation as "unbearable". 

"No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven't received anything," she told AFP.

"We're grinding lentils and pasta to make some loaves of bread, and we barely manage to prepare one meal a day."

The Israeli army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza's Hamas rulers, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Israel has faced massive pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its intensified offensive and allow aid into Gaza.

Kallas said on Tuesday that "a strong majority" of foreign ministers from the 27-nation European Union backed the move to review its trade cooperation with Israel.

"The countries see that the situation in Gaza is untenable... and what we want is to unblock the humanitarian aid," she said.

Sweden said it would press the EU to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.

Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as "worrying and painful" and called for "the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid".

Israel's foreign ministry has said the EU action "reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing".

Germany on Wednesday defended a key EU-Israel cooperation deal as "an important forum that we must use in order to discuss critical questions" over the situation in Gaza.

Reckless act' 

After the warning shots were fired at diplomats, Belgium demanded a "convincing explanation" from Israel, while Spain said it was "in contact with other affected countries to jointly coordinate a response to what happened, which we strongly condemn".

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summoned the Israeli ambassador to Rome and said that "threats against diplomats are unacceptable".

Ahmad Al Deek, political adviser for the Palestinian foreign ministry, said he had been leading the delegation.

"We condemn this reckless act by the Israeli army, especially at a time when it had given the diplomatic delegation an impression of the life the Palestinian people are living", he said.

A European diplomat present during the visit said he heard "repeated shots" coming from inside Jenin refugee camp, which has been largely emptied of its inhabitants since the Israeli operation began in January.

In Gaza, Israel resumed its operations across the territory on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

Gaza's health ministry said Tuesday at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,655.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON — The European Union on Tuesday agreed to review its cooperation deal with Israel over alleged human rights abuses in Gaza, the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.

Kallas said Brussels was acting after "a strong majority" of its 27 member states backed the move, in a meeting of EU foreign ministers, in a bid to pressure Israel.

"What it tells is that the countries see that the situation in Gaza is untenable, and what we want is to really help the people, and what we want is to unblock the humanitarian aid so that it will reach the people," Kallas told journalists.

The United States has reached out to countries about accepting "voluntary" relocations of Palestinians fleeing Israel's offensive in Gaza, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

Israel has again warned the population of Gaza -- nearly entirely displaced since the war broke out over the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas -- to move ahead of a new offensive, which comes after it has blockaded food and supplies for more than two months.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused about displacing Gaza's two million people to make way for reconstruction.

Responding to a question in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said: "There's no deportation."

"What we have talked to some nations about is, if someone voluntarily and willingly says, I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I'm sick, because my children need to go to school, or what have you, are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?" Rubio said.

"Those will be voluntary decisions by individuals," he said.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkely replied, if "there is no clean water, there is no food, and bombing is all around you, is that really a voluntary decision?"

Rubio did not say which countries had been approached but denied that Libya was among them.

NBC News, quoting anonymous sources, recently reported that Trump's administration is working on a plan to relocate permanently up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.

KHARTOUM — Clashes erupted on Tuesday in the outskirts of Sudan's capital as the army launched a "large-scale" offensive to dislodge the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces from its last positions in the area.

Explosions were heard in eastern Omdurman, an AFP correspondent reported, where the RSF still hold some positions after losing control of the capital, Khartoum.

The army said it began the push on Monday to retake the holdouts, where health authorities reported a deadly cholera outbreak.

"We are pressing a large-scale operation and we are close to clearing the whole of Khartoum state from the dirty thugs," said army spokesman Nabil Abdallah.

The war, which began in April 2023, pits the military, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The latest violence comes as both sides seek to install rival governments.

On Monday, Burhan named former UN official Kamil Idris as prime minister, in what analysts see as an attempt to present a functioning civilian-led administration amid the ongoing war.

The African Union welcomed the appointment, calling it "a step toward inclusive governance" and expressing hope the move would "restore constitutional order and democratic governance".

Burhan also appointed two women as members of the ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council and stripped the body of powers to oversee the cabinet.

The moves were aimed at showing progress and appealing to the African Union after Sudan's membership was suspended in 2021, said analyst Kholood Khair.

Burhan wants to "maintain power but share liability... because everything is now blamed on him", as he seeks to consolidate control as he was still reeling from attacks on his wartime capital, Port Sudan, Khair said.

In April, the RSF said it would form its own government in territory under its control, though analysts say it is unlikely to win international backing.

 'Lives at risk' 

After a major battlefield victory in March, when the army recaptured most of Khartoum, the RSF this month launched deep attacks into army-held territory.

Long-range drone strikes blamed on the paramilitaries have targeted key infrastructure in army-held northeastern Sudan, including the wartime capital Port Sudan and power stations supplying electricity to millions.

Relegated to their last major bases in Salha, south of Omdurman, and Ombada to the west, the RSF has launched attacks across Khartoum, including drone strikes on three power stations that knocked out electricity in the capital last week.

Medical charity Doctors Withour Borders [MSF] reported the local water network had been forced out of service, risking the spread of cholera in the city as residents "will turn to different water sources".

Health ministry officials reported Tuesday 51 people have died from more than 2,300 cases reported in the past three weeks,  90 per cent of them in Khartoum state.

MSF on Sunday said the electricity blackout had disrupted healthcare at the city's major hospitals, amid fears of heightened civilian suffering.

"The recurrent attacks on critical infrastructure place civilian lives at risk, worsen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine basic human rights," UN human rights expert Radhouane Nouicer warned on Monday.

Since it began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

It has also effectively carved Africa's third-largest country in two, with the army holding the centre, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.