UNRWA Warehouse Hit in Gaza

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said one of its warehouses in war-ravaged Gaza was hit, amid mounting efforts to bring food to the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Israel-Hamas conflict raging since October 7 has caused mass civilian deaths, reduced vast areas to a rubble-strewn wasteland and sparked warnings of looming famine in the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.

"We can confirm that an UNRWA warehouse/distribution center in Rafah (southern Gaza) has been hit," the United Nations agency said.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza meanwhile said four people were killed in the "bombing of the warehouse".

It came as donor nations, aid agencies and charities pushed on with efforts to rush food to the impoverished territory.

The Israeli army said its troops were "intensifying operations" in the southern Gaza Strip, including the biggest city there, Khan Yunis.

"In the last 24 hours, there were exchanges of fire between IDF (Israeli army) troops and a cell consisting of seven operatives barricaded inside a compound in the Hamad area of Khan Yunis," it said.

Weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators had aimed to bring a truce and hostage release deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his pledge to "destroy Hamas" -- including by sending troops into Gaza's last area so far spared ground operations, far-southern Rafah.

Netanyahu "emphasized that entering Rafah is essential to realizing the goals of the war, and that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would be considered an achievement by Hamas".

The prospect of a Rafah invasion has sparked global alarm because it is crowded with almost 1.5 million mostly displaced people.