Israeli strikes kill 42 as tanks tighten siege of N Gaza

Israeli strikes across Gaza killed 42 people on Wednesday as Israeli forces intensified a siege of northern parts of the Palestinian enclave, surrounding hospitals and refugee shelters, and ordering residents to head south, medics and residents said.

The Gaza health ministry and the World Health Organization said they would be unable to start a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza as planned because of the intense bombardments, mass displacements and lack of access.

The health ministry said at least 650 people had been killed since the new offensive began.

Of at least 42 people reported killed by Israeli military strikes across the enclave Wednesday, 37 deaths were in northern Gaza.

The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said one of its staff members was killed when an UNRWA vehicle was hit in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Medics said the man's brother was also killed. The municipality of Gaza City said two city workers were killed and three others wounded in a strike there.

Hospitals in the north have either stopped providing medical services or are hardly operating because of the offensive. Hospitals where medics have refused Israeli evacuation orders say they are running out of blood for transfusions, as well as coffins and shrouds for the dead.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and was heading to Saudi Arabia to push for a ceasefire, the first major US peace initiative since the killing of Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas) leader Yahya Sinwar and the last before a Nov. 5 presidential election.

Washington has called on Israel to allow more humanitarian supplies into northern Gaza.

The overall death toll in Gaza is approaching 43,000, according to the latest health ministry figures.