GAZA, DECEMBER 21

A report released Thursday by the UN finds that more than half a million people in Gaza are "starving" because of not enough food entering the territory since the outbreak of war more than 10 weeks ago.

Tens of thousands of people are crammed into shelters and tent camps amid shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies. A World Health Organization official who visited two hospitals in northern Gaza said they were doing more amputations because of staff, electricity and supply shortages.

As diplomatic efforts to secure aid deliveries and another cease-fire in the conflict, Israel carried out more strikes and other operations across Gaza, but a territory-wide communications outage made it difficult to confirm details about the fighting. Hamas, meanwhile, fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv, underscoring the militant group's resilience in the face of Israel's blistering campaign to destroy it.

Roughly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Israel says more than 130 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and taking about 240 hostages.