US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting Israeli leaders to push for humanitarian pauses in the Gaza war as Israeli troops surround the Palestinian enclave’s biggest city, the focus of its drive to wipe out Hamas.

Israeli forces pounded the Gaza Strip from ground, sea and air throughout the night amid global alarm over scarcities, collapsing medical services and the rising civilian death toll.

Hamas and its Islamic Jihad ally said their fighters had detonated explosives against advancing troops, dropped grenades from drones, and fired mortars and anti-tank rockets in fierce urban warfare around destroyed buildings and heaps of rubble in Gaza City.

Blinken, on his second trip to Israel in a month, was to discuss with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu steps to minimise harm to civilians in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where food, fuel, water and medicine are running out, buildings have been flattened, and thousands of people have fled homes to escape relentless bombing.

The White House said any pauses in fighting should be temporary and localised.

It has dismissed calls from Arab and several other nations for a full ceasefire in the war, now in its 28th day.

Gaza health authorities say at least 9227 people – many of them women and children – have been killed since Israel started its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel.

Israel says the Iran-backed Hamas killed 1400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages in the attacks on October 7, the deadliest day of its 75-year history.

The Israeli military said its warplanes, artillery and navy had struck Hamas targets overnight, killing several militants including Mustafa Dalul, a Hamas commander it said had directed combat in Gaza.

There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.

‘The soldiers are advancing’

Gaza City – traditionally a Hamas stronghold – was surrounded, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

“The soldiers are advancing in battles, during which they are destroying terror infrastructure above ground and below ground and eliminating terrorists,” he told a briefing on Friday.

In one of the strongest criticisms of Israel from a European leader, Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it had the right to defend itself and chase Hamas but the assault on Gaza also looked like it was turning into “revenge”.

The United Arab Emirates, one of a handful of Arab states with diplomatic ties to Israel, said on Friday it was working “relentlessly” for an immediate ceasefire, warning that the risk of regional spillover and further escalation was real.

Israel has dismissed these calls, saying it targets Hamas fighters whom it accuses of intentionally hiding among the population and civilian buildings.

Blinken is also due to visit Amman to meet Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who said Israel must end the war on Gaza, where he said it was committing war crimes by bombing civilians and imposing a siege.

The Israeli military said its troops and tanks were encountering mines and booby traps as they advanced in Gaza.

Israeli casualties

Hamas fighters were making use of a vast underground tunnel network to stage hit-and-run attacks.

Israel says it has lost 23 soldiers in the offensive.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, said in a televised speech that Israel’s death toll in Gaza was much higher.

“Your soldiers will return in black bags,” he said.

The Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt was due to open for a third day on Friday for limited evacuations under a Qatari-brokered deal aimed at letting some foreign passport holders, their dependants and some wounded Gazans out of the enclave.

According to border officials, more than 700 foreign citizens left for Egypt via Rafah in the two previous days.

Dozens of critically injured Palestinians were to cross too. Israel asked foreign countries to send hospital ships for them.

Israel also sent back about 7000 Palestinians who had been working in Israel and the West Bank before October 7 to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.

Hagari said Israel was also “highly prepared” on its northern border with Lebanon, where he said Iranian-backed militants were carrying out actions with the aim of diverting it from the war in Gaza.

-AAP