Israel continues attacking Gaza despite Trump order to 'immediately' stop

Israel continued military operations in Gaza on Saturday even after US President Donald Trump ordered them to "immediately" stop their assault on the enclave.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the strip.

Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.

"The situation is very serious in Gaza City," he said, adding that his teams were not able to reach all the casualties due to the "presence of tanks and the ongoing bombardment".

Gaza City's Baptist Hospital said it received at least four dead from a strike on a home in Tuffah neighbourhood, while Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported two children killed and eight people wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced people.

The Israeli military issued a statement in Arabic on Saturday warning residents of Gaza City not to return to the area as it was continuing its operations.

"The IDF [Israeli military] troops are still operating in Gaza City, and returning to it is extremely dangerous," the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X. 

Read more: Israel continues attacking Gaza despite Trump order to 'immediately' stop