Gaza City

Israeli forces struck the Gaza Strip on Friday, as the U.N.'s top court was due to rule on a plea to halt the military offensive over accusations of "genocide".

On the ground in Gaza, witnesses reported overnight air and naval strikes on Gaza City and gunfire to its south, with several casualties reported in two separate raids on residential blocks in the city's north and centre.

The stranglehold on aid reaching Gaza threatens an "apocalyptic" outcome, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Sunday as he warned of famine in the besieged territory.

The war in Gaza came to the fore at world football's biggest meeting on Friday as the Palestinian association called for Israel to be immediately suspended from FIFA.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the congress in Bangkok that the sport's global governing body will take independent legal advice to consider the Palestinian demand.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday insisted there was no "humanitarian catastrophe" in Rafah, even as hundreds of thousands fled the south Gaza city amid intense bombardments.

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite U.S. warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat from post-war anarchy or insurgency.

Clashes have rocked the densely crowded far-southern city of Rafah but also flared again in northern and central Gaza, months after troops and tanks first entered those areas.

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite U.S. warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat from post-war anarchy or insurgency.

An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke "anarchy" without eliminating Hamas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, as death toll in the war had exceeded 35,000 people.

Separately, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasized Washington's concerns about an offensive in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.

Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Palestinian territory after an Israeli evacuation order sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from Rafah.

Israel launched strikes on Gaza Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah, with the United Nations warning an outright invasion of the crowded southern city risked an "epic" disaster.

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in recent days, the United Nations said on May 10, with Israeli tanks encircling the eastern half of the southern Gaza city, under threat of a full-scale ground invasion.