Hundreds flee as Israel pursues ferocious attack on Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp

Israeli tanks pushed further into the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee, as a ferocious attack which began on Sunday evening continued.

In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, amid fierce clashes with Palestinian groups.

Residents said tank shells were landing at the centre of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses.

An Al-Jazeera correspondent said that Israeli forces had heavily fired on civilian shelters in the camp, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee. They also fired on ambulances which tried to move into the camp.

Residents and medics said several people were killed and wounded in a series of air strikes on the camp overnight. Medics said they have been unable to send teams to some of the bombed areas because of the intensity of the Israeli bombardment but they have reports of fatalities.

"They were bombing everywhere, including near schools that are housing people who lost their houses," Jabalia resident Saed, 45, told Reuters via a chat app on Sunday. "War is restarting, this is how it looks in Jabalia."

Since Sunday morning, the Israeli army has been intensifying attacks on the town and refugee camp of Jabalia, under heavy cover from warplanes and artillery camps.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the camp at the beginning of the Gaza war, and thousands more fled to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip as a result. However many residents remain in Jabalia.

Hamas said its fighters were resisting the Israeli attack on the refugee camp and firing mortars and rockets at the attacking forces.

The death toll from Israel’s assault on Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis.

Reuters contributed to this report.