Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.
The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.
Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera News said Cairo will host a meeting with Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing.
In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.
The Israeli army said troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip”.
Suad Abu Salah, 47, one of scores of displaced Palestinians who have returned to the ravaged north in recent days, told AFP that “Jabalia has been wiped off the map.”
Back in Jabalia after the Israeli offensive, she said: “We need a solution and an end to this war, so that we can live in peace.”
