Is­raeli troops and tanks were push­ing deep­er in­to Gaza City on Wednes­day, the sec­ond day of a ground of­fen­sive that was wide­ly con­demned in­ter­na­tion­al­ly, as Pales­tini­ans fled the dev­as­tat­ed area en masse.

Is­rael’s mil­i­tary said that air force and ar­tillery units had struck the city over 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops mov­ing in. The strikes have top­pled high-rise tow­ers in ar­eas dense­ly pop­u­lat­ed by tent camps where thou­sands of Pales­tini­ans are shel­ter­ing. Is­rael claims the tow­ers are be­ing used by Hamas to sur­veil troops.

Overnight strikes killed at least 16 peo­ple, in­clud­ing women and chil­dren, hos­pi­tal of­fi­cials re­port­ed. The death count in Gaza is near­ing 65,000 Pales­tini­ans since the war be­gan Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led at­tack on Is­rael, ac­cord­ing to health of­fi­cials in the en­clave.