Israeli forces have killed at least 77 Palestinians across Gaza, including 47 people in northern Gaza City, as the military intensifies its campaign to seize the city and displace about one million people living there.

The killings on Saturday included 11 Palestinians who were shot dead while queueing for food aid, and came as the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that 10 more people had died of malnutrition in the last 24-hour period.

The victims included three children.

In Gaza City, Israeli forces launched three strikes in quick succession, tearing apart an apartment block and killing at least seven people. Several more were wounded, including children.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the attack caused “mayhem and chaos” and damaged the surrounding areas.

“Many children were wounded. They arrived to the hospital fully soaked in their own blood. We saw one child transferred to the hospital who had the flesh of others who were wounded sticking to his back.”

‘We are on the streets’

Mahmoud said the attack was the latest since Israel declared Gaza City a combat zone.

“The military has increased its aerial bombings on densely populated areas, pushing people into further displacement. We are seeing people scrambling for shelter,” he added.

Families fleeing the Israeli military’s relentless bombardment have begun setting up makeshift tents amid miserable conditions near Nuseirat refugee camp and near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Most of them have been forced to leave their homes more than once.

Mohamed Maalouf, 50, told The Associated Press news agency that he and his family of nine had already been displaced from the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

“We are thrown in the streets, like what would I say? Like dogs? We are not like dogs. Dogs are [treated] better than us,” he said.

“We have no homes. We are on the streets,” he added.

Heavy Israeli strikes also targeted Jabalia in northern Gaza, forcing people there to flee, too.

Mohammed Abu Warda told Al Jazeera that he had fled Jabalia and was heading towards the western side of Gaza City, but that he did not know exactly where to go.

“We left our area because the situation there was very dangerous,” Abu Warda said.

“Hopefully I can find a place to set up a tent… Everything here is useless, and everywhere is unsafe. The Israelis attack every single place.”

Israeli forces have carried out a sustained bombardment on Gaza City since early August as part of a deepening push to seize the city and displace about one million Palestinians living there.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had begun the “initial stages” of its offensive, declaring the largest urban centre in the territory a “combat zone”.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, condemned Israel’s offensive, saying its order for trapped civilians to evacuate saying the mass evacuation of the city was “unfeasible and incomprehensible”.

“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” Egger said in a statement.

“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care.”

‘Enough is enough’

Despite the growing global condemnation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has shown no signs of halting the military offensive.

Gideon Levy, a columnist with Israeli news outlet Haaretz, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s overarching plan for Gaza amounts to ethnic cleansing.

“The plan is to push all the inhabitants of Gaza out of their houses, then lock them in those concentration camps and then give them two choices, either to live in those camps forever or to leave the Gaza Strip,” Levy said.

Describing the Israeli government’s policy as “outrageous”, Levy added that Israel will only halt its offensive if United States President Donald Trump decides that “enough is enough” and applies pressure on the country.

The US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military assistance since its war on Gaza began in October 2023. Washington has also shielded its top ally from calls for accountability at the United Nations and other international arenas.

In February, Trump suggested removing all Palestinians from Gaza, a plan that would amount to ethnic cleansing, a crime against humanity.

In Israel, meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators unveiled a banner in Tel Aviv, urging Trump to “make history” and push for a deal to release the remaining 50 captives held by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.

Rubi Chen, father of Israeli captive, Itay, compared Israel’s war on Gaza to the US’s war in Vietnam, which killed millions of Vietnamese people and nearly 60,000 Americans, many of them young soldiers drafted by their government.

“I would like to remind people from the US that this sounds similar to the Vietnam War, where President [Richard] Nixon thought that by extending, by prolonging the war, he would benefit from more strategic objectives. In the end, the war was extended for two more years, which only caused for 8,000 American families to lose their loved ones,” Chen said.

“I think it is a fair comparison to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The [Israeli military] chief of staff has stated, Israel has achieved all its military objectives. Now is the time to cement military achievements with a diplomatic agreement, where the basis of it is with the release of the 49 hostages, a permanent ceasefire, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, and hopefully building a better future for all of us.”