Huge numbers of Palestinians were fleeing Gaza City by any means on Wednesday as the Israeli military pressed its ground offensive, killing dozens in strikes.

AFP images showed a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, by car and on donkey carts, with their few belongings piled high as Israel bombarded the city.

Israel had announced the day before that the US-backed campaign in the Gaza Strip's largest city had begun, pledging to destroy the militant group Hamas in the area.

The offensive has sparked outrage among the international community, with the Palestinian territory already devastated by nearly two years of war and the Gaza City region gripped by a UN-declared famine.

Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli fire had killed

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