Aid agency says its building in Deir al-Balah was attacked as Israeli forces target area largely spared in war with Hamas

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

An Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the built-up, seaside Shati refugee camp on the western side of Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to the city’s Shifa Hospital,

Now the primary vehicle for food distribution inside Gaza, the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed operation is an issue in ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

Israeli tanks on Monday rolled into a part of central Gaza that has not previously seen ground operations in the 21-month war, according to Israeli media, aid agencies and witnesses.

A top general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned that Israel will continue with its campaign against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, just four weeks after a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire ended its 12-day war with Tehran.

The attacks came as Israel’s military expanded ground operations in central Gaza, displacing more civilians amid a severe hunger crisis.

Sharaa vowed to protect minority groups including the Druze and the Alawites, who formerly dominated power in Syria. But after almost 15 years of civil war that left the country’s institutions and economy largely wrecked,