Israel 'in all areas of Gaza' as new evacuations ordered

BBC update:

The Israeli military says it's expanding its ground operation into "all areas" of the Gaza Strip following the resumption of fighting on Friday.

This morning it posted on social media a fresh order for people to evacuate about 20 areas of the Palestinian enclave.

Its forces have been pushing further south - amid warnings from humanitarian groups that Gazans are running out of places to flee.

Senior US officials earlier reiterated their view that Israel had a right to defend itself - but added that its soldiers must protect civilians.

Meanwhile, an adviser to Israel's PM told the BBC his country was making "maximum effort" to avoid civilian casualties.

The Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October killed 1,200 people, with around 240 others taken hostage.

Since then, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 15,500 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign, including about 6,000 children.

No one feels safe as bombs fall every 10 minutes - Unicef spokesman

James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children's agency Unicef, says there are serious concerns about the impact of Israeli military action in southern Gaza.

"There's been a really strong message that's come from the highest levels that what happened in the north - the horror people endured - must not be allowed to happen in the south. Well, that is the case," Elder said.

He estimated that bombs fall "every 10 minutes".

For people in southern Gaza, the danger is now combined with exhaustion: "When you've been displaced three or four times under bombardment [people are] fatigued, exhausted, trying to keep it together for their children - they have nowhere to go," Elder said.

"When I see child after child wheeled in, parents screaming on stretchers with horrendous wounds of war one after the other, hour after the other - they're not safe in hospitals, they're not safe in shelters," he added.

"There is no way I feel safe, no one else feels safe."