Family sheltering in tent in Khan Younis among 23 killed in Israeli strikes

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 Palestinians on Tuesday, local health officials said, as the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents across the enclave.

The dead include three children and their parents who were killed in a strike on their tent near the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. 

Palestinian first responders said Tuesday that a nine-member ambulance crew is still missing days after being surrounded and targeted by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the team was responding to airstrikes in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood of the southern city of Rafah when Israeli forces encircled the area early Sunday. It said Israel has refused access to the area since then. 

The military said troops had fired on ambulances and fire trucks that it said had raised suspicion by moving without prior co-ordination and without headlights or emergency signals. It said those inside were militants, without providing evidence.

The Israeli military resumed its campaign against Hamas in Gaza a week ago, shattering a two-month ceasefire. Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, Palestinian health officials say.

Most of Gaza's population of 2.3 million has already been displaced multiple times by the fighting during nearly 18 months of war, and is facing worsening shortages of food and water after Israel suspended aid deliveries earlier this month.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents in all northern border towns to evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets had been fired at Israel from the area.

The affected towns include Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Shejaia in Gaza City. Orders were also issued for areas in Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.

"For your safety, you must move immediately south to known shelters," the military said in its orders to residents in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's historic refugee camps.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the renewed offensive aimed to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining 59 hostages it is holding in Gaza. About 24 of them are believed to still be alive.

Hamas, which accuses Israel of abandoning the Jan.19 ceasefire deal, said it was co-operating with a new effort, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, to restore calm and conclude the three-phase ceasefire agreement.

According to some Hamas sources, there has been no breakthrough.