Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at "the defeat of Hamas", with rescuers in the Palestinian territory reporting at least 32 killed by new Israeli strikes.
The stepped-up campaign came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza as an Israeli aid blockade wore on, and as a new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel got underway in Doha.
Israel's military said the operation marked "the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war's objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas".
UN chief Antonio Guterres, addressing an Arab League summit in Baghdad, said he was "alarmed" at the escalation and called for "a permanent ceasefire, now".
The summit's final statement urged the international community "to exert pressure to end the bloodshed" and let in aid.
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 32 deaths had been recorded Saturday, more than half of them women and children.
Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP some people were still buried under rubble after the strikes, and that there were also reports of deaths and injuries elsewhere but rescuers were unable to reach the areas due to ongoing shelling.
In Deir el-Balah, displaced Gazans sifted through belongings, some stained with blood, for whatever could be salvaged after overnight strikes hit their tents.
"We woke up at half past two in the morning to the sound of a loud explosion that shook the entire area," said Umm Fadi Quzaat.
"There was blood and body parts everywhere."
Italy urged Israel to stop the strikes, while Germany said it was "deeply concerned". European Council President Antonio Costa said he was "shocked by the news from Gaza".
Israel resumed its operations in the territory on March 18, ending a two-month truce in the war.
Thousands protested in London on Saturday against the war.
"The situation in Gaza is worsening and worsening," said one demonstrator, who gave his name as Laurens, adding that "more organisations and agencies are talking about genocidal violence".
While the Eurovision Song Contest final took place in Basel, Switzerland, pro-Palestinian protesters in the city upset at Israel's participation clashed with police just before the country's entrant took the stage.
Israel's Yuval Raphael, singing "New Day Will Rise", survived the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war.
In Tel Aviv, crowds of supporters and family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza turned out for a protest demanding a deal for the captives' return.
Levy Ben Baruch -- the uncle of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who was recently released after direct talks between Hamas and the United States -- said his nephew's freedom offered a lesson for Israel's leaders.
"Edan's return is a miracle -- but also a reminder... that war is not needed to return (the hostages)! That we can talk. That we can bring everyone back," he said in a statement released by the main organisation representing hostages' families.
Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said Saturday that new talks on ending the war had begun in Doha "without any preconditions from either side".
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