70 Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Convoys Fleeing Gaza City: Palestinian Health Ministry

At least 70 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on convoys fleeing Gaza City, officials from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said late Friday.

An additional 200 people were injured, officials reported, according to the New York Times.

The Israeli army had ordered residents to evacuate the city Friday ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Cars carrying fleeing Palestinians were struck in three places as they headed south from Gaza City, said the Hamas press office, which added that most of those killed were women and children.

The target of the airstrikes was not immediately clear — or whether militants were among the fleeing convoys.

Israel's military, meanwhile, earlier reported finding dead hostages while conducting what it called "localized raids" in the Gaza Strip and ordered massive evacuations there Friday ahead of a potential invasion as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for an end of "business as usual with Hamas."

The seventh day of the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror group also saw the revelation of "top secret" documents detailing reported Hamas plans to kill and kidnap Israeli children.

In New York City, pro-Palestinian protesters staged a large demonstration in New York City's Times Square, chanting that "resistance is justified" and invoking past Palestinian uprisings in response to the call from a former Hamas political leader for a "Day of Rage" against Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces fired artillery shells into Lebanon after an explosion at a border fence prompted warnings of a suspected infiltration by Palestinian gunmen, and also said it deployed drones to retaliate for attacks by Hezbollah.

One of the Israeli shells killed a journalist and injured six others, the Associated Press said.

The Israeli death toll exceeded 1,300, including 222 soldiers, according to the IDF and officials in Gaza reported about 1,800 killed in the strip.

The morgue at Gaza's biggest hospital was reportedly overflowing with bodies following days of Israeli counterstrikes against Hamas since it launched its devastating, surprise attack on Oct. 7.

It wasn't immediately how many bodies of missing Israelis were discovered in Gaza, with Israel's public broadcaster, Kan 11, saying only that "several" were found and repatriated for burial.

On Monday, Hamas said four Israeli hostages had been killed in airstrikes by the Israel Defense Forces and the terror group released a photo of captive Israel soldier Tomer Alon Nimrodi, 21, who it said was among the victims.

Earlier Friday, Hamas said another 13 hostages had been killed by airstrikes in the past 24 hours.

Seven died in three locations in Gaza City and the other six were killed at two spots in northern Gaza, Hamas said.

First Israeli raids into Gaza

The dead hostages were found after Israeli infantry troops and tanks rolled into Gaza on Friday in what the IDF called "localized raids" to root out Hamas terrorists and search for hostages, the Times of Israel reported.

The incursion marked the first Israeli boots on the ground in Gaza since the war began.

The IDF said it killed several Hamas members, including a cell that launched guided anti-tank missiles into Israel and made "findings that may help in the effort to locate the missing."

“We will continue to make every effort to find every detail about the missing and hostages,” an IDF spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said.

Hamas is believed to have abducted at least 150 Israelis, and possibly some American citizens, and has claimed that its hostages include Israeli military officers.

Evacuation orders

The Israel Defense Forces told hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents to evacuate hours after the United Nations said it was warned that 1.1 million people in northern Gaza needed to get out within 24 hours, the Associated Press said.

Israel has called up about 360,000 military reservists and is massing troops at the Gaza border amid repeated vows by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy Hamas, which controls the densely populated strip.

A U.N. official publicly criticized the evacuation order, saying, "How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated warzone in less than 24 hours?”

“The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening," Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

An IDF spokesperson later said during a news conference that "the population of Gaza City has started moving south significantly in order to defend itself,” according to the Times of Israel.

'No more business as usual with Hamas'

During a news conference in Qatar, Blinken said he'd been telling leaders across the Middle East "that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas."

"Murdering babies, burning families to death, taking little children as hostages — these are unconscionable acts," he said.

"Every country, in our judgment, needs to condemn these actions, needs to hold them accountable and we will continue to make that clear."

Blinken also said he was working to create a safe passage for civilians trapped in Gaza and to provide them with humanitarian aid.

'Kill as many as possible'

Documents labeled "top secret" in Arabic and detailing plans to target Israeli elementary schools and a youth center were found on the bodies of slain Hamas terrorists, NBC News reported.

The papers reportedly include maps of a religious kibbutz at Sa'ad, near the Kfar Aza kibbutz where Israel has said 40 babies were slain, including some who were beheaded.

They contain include orders to "kill as many people as possible" and also seize hostages and quickly force them into Gaza, NBC said.

Tactics akin to those outlined in the documents appear similar to the actions of Hamas gunman recorded by surveillance cameras actions at the start of the war, NBC said.

Hamas has denied targeting children during its attack on Israel.

'Day of Rage' protests

New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., stepped up security around Jewish and Muslim sites after former Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal called for a global day of "rage" on Friday.

Tens of thousands of Arabs demonstrated across the Middle East on Friday, including in Gaza, where Israeli flags defaced with large, red X's were set on fire during a mass rally.

“It is reasonable to assume that there will be protest events in various countries that are liable to turn violent,” the Israeli National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement late Thursday.

In New York's Times Square, hundreds of protesters waved Palestinian flags and signs while chanting slogans that included, "Resistance is justified when people are occupied."

At one point, the swelling crowd also chanted, “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada," using the Arabic word for the uprisings in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that killed more than 5,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis between 1987 and 2005.

Shelling into Lebanon

Israel destroyed a Lebanese army observation post during shelling Friday and warned residents of a border village to stay locked in their homes, according to Reuters.

The moves reportedly came after Palestinian gunmen tried to cross into Israel, with the IDF saying a border fence had been lightly damaged by an explosion.

The artillery strikes hit near Alma Al-Shaab and Dhayra, where repeated clashes have taken place in the past week, Reuters said.

The IDF said it was using drones to attack the Hezbollah terror group after it opened fire at Israeli army positions, according to the Times of Israel.

Journalist killed

A Reuters videographer was killed by Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon that also wounded six colleagues.

Issam Abdallah was part of a crew that was providing a live signal, according to Reuters.

"We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region, and supporting Issam's family and colleagues," Reuters said in a statement.

Two other Reuters journalists were injured and were seeking medical care, the news agency said.

Two employees of Agence France-Presse and Al-Jazeera TV were also wounded, according to the Associated Press.