• Israeli military says it kills top Hamas weapons manufacturer in Gaza air strike 
• Military says it also killed several Hamas militants engaged in anti-tank or ground-to-ground rocket fire. 
• Palestinian media say militants fighting Israeli forces near al-Shati refugee camp 
• United Nations officials stepped up their appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza. 
• Israel says it will not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages are released. 
• Washington has backed Israel's position that a ceasefire would help Hamas militarily. 
• Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab and Islamic nations in the coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Saudi minister said. 
• The United Nations says Gaza's health system is close to collapse, battered by air strikes, flooded with trauma patients, and running out of medicines and fuel. 

Air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed a Hamas weapons maker and several fighters, the Israeli military said, as its air and ground offensive targeted the militants' tunnel network beneath the besieged Palestinian enclave. Gaza City, the Hamas militant group's main stronghold in the territory, is encircled by Israeli forces. The military said troops have advanced to the heart of the densely-populated city while Hamas says its fighters have inflicted heavy losses. With the war now entering its second month, United Nations officials stepped up their appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza, where buildings have been flattened and basic supplies are running out. Palestinian officials say more than 10,000 people have been killed, 40% of them children. Israel struck at Gaza in response to a Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages. The war has descended into the bloodiest episode in the generations-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's stated intention is to wipe out Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, pounding it from air, land, and sea while ground troops have moved in to divide the narrow coastal strip in two in fierce urban fighting amid the ruins of buildings.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday two separate strikes eliminated a leading Hamas armourer, Mahsein Abu Zina, and fighters engaged in anti-tank or ground-to-ground rocket fire. Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces near al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp in Gaza City. Israeli tanks have encountered heavy resistance from Hamas fighters using the tunnels to stage ambushes, according to sources with Hamas and the separate Islamic Jihad militant group. Israel says 32 of its soldiers have been killed. Israelis have voiced fear that military operations could further endanger the hostages, who are believed to be held in the tunnels. Israel says it will not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages are released. Hamas says it will not stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.

The fighting is concentrated in the north of the Gaza Strip and Israel has told civilians to flee to the south, but it has been bombing southern areas as well. In the main southern city of Khan Younis, Reuters saw ambulances bringing to a hospital the bodies of three Palestinians, including a young girl, killed in a house that was hit. The toll there could rise as ambulances went back to the site searching for more casualties.

Washington has backed Israel's position that a ceasefire would help Hamas militarily. But U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause fighting for humanitarian reasons.

Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab and Islamic nations in the coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Saudi investment minister said.

At Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital, Um Haitham Hejela, a woman sheltering with young children in an improvised tent, said they fled their home because of air strikes. "The situation is getting worse day after day," she said. "There is no food, no water. When my son goes to pick up water, he queues for three or four hours in the line. They struck bakeries, we don't have bread." The United Nations says Gaza's health system is close to collapse, battered by air strikes, flooded with trauma patients, and running out of medicines and fuel. There are 350,000 patients with chronic conditions in Gaza, including cancer and diabetes, as well as 50,000 pregnant women, according to data from United Nations organizations, and many are no longer receiving treatment.  

(With inputs from agencies)