Israeli forces pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet set to discuss a plan on Sunday to seize the city.

Local health authorities said Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 18 people on Sunday, including 13 who tried to get food from near an aid site in the central Gaza Strip, and at least two in a house in Gaza City.

The Israeli military spokesperson's office said they were reviewing the reports.

Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of the largest neighborhoods of Gaza City, said the territory had been under Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes throughout the weekend, forcing families to seek shelter in the western parts of the city.

The Israeli military has gradually escalated its operations around Gaza City over the past three weeks, and on Friday it ended temporary pauses in the area that had allowed for aid deliveries, designating it a "dangerous combat zone".

An Israeli official said Netanyahu's security cabinet will convene on Sunday evening to discuss the next stages of the planned offensive to seize Gaza City, which he has described as Hamas' last bastion.

Hamas military chief confirmed dead

Hamas confirmed on Saturday the death of its Gaza military chief Mohammad Sinwar. This follows Israel saying it killed him in a strike in May.

Hamas did not provide details on Sinwar's death but published pictures of him along with other group leaders, describing them as "martyrs".

Mohammad Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Islamist faction's chief, who co-masterminded the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and who Israel killed in combat a year later.

Mohammad Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the group after the death of the brother.

His confirmed death would leave his close associate Izz al-Din Haddad, who currently oversees operations in northern Gaza, in charge of Hamas' armed wing across the whole of the enclave.

Israel retrieves bodies of two hostages

Israel identified the body of hostage Idan Shtivi, recovered from the Gaza Strip in a military operation this week that retrieved the remains of two hostages, according to Netanyahu's office.

It announced on Friday the retrieval of Ilan Weiss's body along with the remains of another hostage, whose identity is now known to be that of Shtivi but had not been disclosed at the time.

With Weiss and Shtivi's bodies recovered, Israel says 48 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom only 20 are believed to be alive.

Red Cross warning on Gaza

The Red Cross warned on Saturday that any Israeli attempt to evacuate Gaza City would put residents at risk, as Israel's military tightened its siege on the area ahead of a planned offensive.

Gaza's civil defence agency said that since dawn on Saturday Israeli attacks had killed 66 people in the territory already devastated by nearly 23 months of war.

"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," International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric said.

The dire state of shelter, healthcare and nutrition in Gaza meant evacuation was "not only unfeasible but incomprehensible under the present circumstances".

Israel is under increasing pressure to end its offensive in Gaza where the great majority of the population has been displaced at least once and the UN has declared a famine.

Activists prepare to set sail for Gaza

A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, is due to leave from Barcelona on Sunday to try to "break the illegal siege of Gaza", organizers said.

The vessels will set off from the Spanish port city to "open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people", said the Global Sumud Flotilla.

The flotilla is expected to arrive at the war-ravaged coastal enclave in mid-September.

"This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined," Brazilian activist Thiago Avila said.