Israel strikes Gaza as world court ruling due

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.

Israel in early May launched an assault on Rafah, the last city in Gaza to be entered by its ground troops, defying global opposition and sending more than 800,000 people fleeing, according to U.N. figures.

In a statement Friday, the Israeli army said its "troops are continuing operations against terror targets" in the southern city, where they had "destroyed weapon storage facilities" and tunnel shafts.

A local Palestinian source said military vehicles were advancing from eastern Rafah towards the city centre.

Urban combat has flared again in northern areas of the Palestinian territory, which Israeli forces initially entered months ago.

"We hear nothing but the sound of explosions and gunfire," said Mahmud al-Sharif, 31, in the Jabalia refugee camp.

On Friday, a local source reported helicopters firing at the camp and renewed artillery shelling in the area.

The military reported "targeted raids" in the Jabalia area and ongoing "activity" in the central Gaza Strip.

 ICJ ruling on ceasefire 

Doctor Mohammad Saleh, the acting director of Al-Awda hospital — one of only two hospitals still functioning in northern Gaza according to the U.N. — said it had been under Israeli siege for five consecutive days.

"Soldiers are present in the hospital's courtyard and in nearby houses," he said, adding there...