Growing alarm has focused on Khan Yunis, the biggest city in Gaza's south, where the two main hospitals were barely functioning under the weight of the relentless bombardment and the press of thousands in need.
Witnesses reported more overnight strikes on Khan Yunis, the current epicentre of Israel's assault on Gaza, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said some of the dead and wounded had been taken to the city's barely functioning Al-Amal hospital, reports AFP.
The strikes came after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Israel must prevent possible acts of genocide in its war against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.
The court, which has virtually no enforcement power, stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting but also said in its ruling that Israel must facilitate "urgently needed" humanitarian assistance.
"This is the first time the world has told Israel that it is out of line," said Maha Yasin, a 42-year-old displaced Palestinian woman in Gaza.
"What Israel did to us in Gaza for four months has never happened in history."
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
