Palestinian residents of Gaza City have come under relentless Israeli bombardment as the military prepares for a major offensive to seize and ethnically cleanse the area, barring emergency workers from reaching people trapped in the residential Zeitoun neighbourhood.

Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, in a controversial escalation of its war in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in the city in the north of the Gaza Strip. It was the enclave's most populous city before the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel's goal was not to occupy Gaza, but to "free Gaza."

After nearly two years of war, the Israeli military says it controls about 75 percent of Gaza. The United Nations says more than 86 percent of Gaza is within the Israeli militarized zone or under evacuation orders.

An airstrike on Gaza City killed at least 12 people as the conflict entered a new phase with an Israeli offensive to rid the city of Hamas and free hostages.

At least 15 Palestinians, most of them children, were killed in two separate Israeli strikes overnight in Gaza City, a hospital there said Monday.

A UCLA professor of Israeli studies says Netanyahu does not have an exit plan if IDF troops occupy Gaza’s largest city.

CAIRO, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive against Hamas "fairly quickly".

Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil kicked off the rally outside the New York Public Library near Bryant Park before those in attendance started marching across Manhattan. Protesters called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war and for the United States to stop sending aid to Israel. People from across the country attended.