Gaza’s Health Ministry claims three people were killed when a car was “fired at by an Israeli tank” along the territory’s main highway, as the IDF pushes into Gaza City and carries out attacks on Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza has claimed that three people were killed when a car was shot down by an Israeli tank along the enclave’s main road.

The incident – ​​which appeared to be captured on video – took place as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) entered Gaza City in the ‘second phase’ of their war against Hamas.

Footage shows a car approaching an earthen barrier built across the highway, where a tank is parked behind a small building, according to the Associated Press.

The car stops and starts turning in the middle of the road. As he drives away, the tank appears to open fire, and an explosion engulfs the car, the AP reported.

A journalist who was filming the scene from another car down the street runs away in fright, shouting, “Go back! Go back!’ at an approaching ambulance and other vehicles on the Salahedin highway.

The car stops and starts turning in the middle of the road. As he drives away, the tank appears to open fire, and an explosion engulfs the car, the AP reported

Gaza’s Health Ministry later said three people were killed in the car that was hit.

The Hamas-led health authority’s claim comes almost two weeks after an attack on Gaza’s Al-Ahli hospital, the cause of which remains disputed.

Hamas initially accused the IDF of carrying out the attack, but evidence has since emerged suggesting it was likely caused by a failed rocket launch from Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

MailOnline could not immediately identify the people in the car in the more recent incident on the Gaza highway called Salahedin Road.

The road is Gaza’s main artery and runs almost the entire length of the enclave.

According to an Associated Press translation of the video, one of the journalists in the car that fled the scene suggested there was a family in the car.

‘Do you see it? Film, film’ you hear one of the journalists in the following car say to his colleague when they first see the tank at the end of the road.

“There it is, there it is, moved, (the tank) moved,” someone says.

‘He is gone! (the car is destroyed by the tank) away.’

‘They hit him? Yes, there is no might or power except with God. They hit him? Yes, there is no might or power except with God, the man was killed.”

“There is no might or power except with God. The whole family. Oh God, the whole family (killed). Go back, go back! (he says, shouting to warn those in front not to go to the area where the Israeli tank was seen) There’s a tank, there’s a tank!’

“Go, go, Yusuf,” the passenger shouts at the driver, after which the driver, shouting at other vehicles on the road, shouts, “Go back, go back, go back, back!”

“Yusuf, drive!” the passenger says again. Then there is the sound of another explosion. ‘It was a hit, Yusuf, go, the bus is gone, back!’

It was not immediately clear what was meant by ‘the bus’. Only one vehicle was seen destroyed by the tank, but others entered the road.

If confirmed, the incident would be the first Israeli ground attack in Gaza captured on video since the war against Hamas entered its second phase.

Witnesses said on Monday that Israeli tanks had advanced to the outskirts of Gaza City, home to 1.1 million people before the conflict.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain in the north and would no longer be able to escape if the north-south highway is blocked.

According to UN figures, around 117,000 internally displaced people remain in hospitals in northern Gaza, along with thousands of patients and staff.

Most residents followed Israel’s orders to flee to the southern part of the besieged area, but many stayed partly because Israel has also bombed targets in so-called safe zones since the Oct. 7 bombing.

A journalist who was filming the scene from another car down the street runs away in fright, shouting, “Go back! Go back!’ at an approaching ambulance and other vehicles on the highway

Witnesses have said that “dozens” of tanks entered Gaza’s Zaytun district on the southern edge of Gaza City, cutting off a major road from north to south.

“They have cut off Salahedin road and are shooting at any vehicle that wants to pass by,” said a resident who said they were present on two parts of the road.

Located on the southern edge of Gaza City, Zaytun – which normally has a population of more than 130,000 – is the city’s largest district, but the area where the tanks were spotted is relatively sparsely populated.

Dozens of buildings west of Salahedin Road have already been destroyed by Israeli attacks in recent days.

The incident came as Israeli advances placed their forces on both sides of Gaza City and surrounding areas of northern Gaza, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second phase” in the war sparked by Hamas’s brutal incursion on October 7.

Casualties on both sides are expected to rise sharply as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle each other in densely populated residential areas.

The death toll among Palestinians has surpassed 8,000, mostly women and minors, Gaza’s health ministry said. This toll is unprecedented in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. More than 1.4 million people in Gaza have fled their homes.

More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, mostly civilians killed in Hamas’s first attack, also an unprecedented number.

It appeared that Israeli forces were pushing deeper into Gaza from the north. A video released by the military on Monday showed armored vehicles driving between buildings and soldiers taking up positions in a house.

The army said Monday that its forces had killed dozens of militants attacking from buildings and tunnels overnight, and that attacks had destroyed a building that Hamas was using as a staging post.

A photo taken from the southern city of Sderot in Israel shows Israeli tanks and bulldozers deployed in the northern Gaza Strip on October 30.

Palestinians leave their homes after the Israeli bombardment of Gaza City, October 30

It said it had hit more than 600 militant targets in recent days, including weapons depots and anti-tank missile launch positions.

The reports of targeting could not be independently confirmed.

Hamas’ military wing said its militants clashed with Israeli forces moving into the northwestern Gaza Strip with small arms and anti-tank rockets.

Palestinian militants have continued to fire rockets into Israel, including towards the commercial center of Tel Aviv.