In the first day after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza following the breakdown of a weeklong truce with Hamas, the Israeli military said it struck over 400 targets, while international humanitarian groups decried continued violence.

On Saturday, Israel targeted areas in the crowded south of Gaza, while the United States has urged Israeli officials to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as Israel presses on in Gaza in an attempt to eradicate the militant group Hamas.

Israel's offensive in the last day included more than 50 strikes in the city of Khan Younis and surrounding areas in the southern half of Gaza, the military said on Saturday.

Several houses and buildings were hit. In one strike on a house in the city of Deir al-Balah in south Gaza, at least nine people were killed, including three children, according to the hospital where the bodies were taken.

Meanwhile, militant groups in Gaza said they were firing rockets into southern Israel, and Israel's military said sirens were sounding.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed in the day since fighting resumed, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said.

"Today, the Gaza Strip is once again the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," UNICEF said in a statement. "After seven days of respite from horrific violence, fighting has resumed. More children will surely die as a result."

The World Health Organization also decried the collapsing health care system in Gaza, saying the territory could not afford to lose any more of its beds and was already overwhelmed with injured.

"We need a ceasefire. A ceasefire that holds," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media Friday.

Israel and Hamas traded blame over the end of the cease-fire, which began on November 24 and saw the release of over 100 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, in exchange for some 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

The United States put the blame on Hamas, saying Hamas failed to deliver a list of hostages the militant group would release. 

More than 15,200 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out nearly two months ago, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in an updated figure on Saturday. About 1,200 Israelis have been killed, mostly civilians during Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Developments:

∎ A 70-year-old woman held by Hamas was declared dead on Saturday, according to her kibbutz, bringing the total number of known dead hostages to eight.

∎ Doctors Without Borders said in a report released Friday that an investigation into a November 18 attack on its convoy evacuating to southern Gaza that killed two people points to "the responsibility of the Israeli army for this attack."

Israel orders evacuations in southern Gaza

Israel's military on Saturday ordered civilians in southern Gaza to evacuate using a map it had published upon the end of the temporary cease-fire.

A day earlier, Israel warned people in Gaza that they should familiarize themselves with the map published online, dividing the territory into regions and hundreds of numbered parcels. It highlighted over two dozen areas that should be evacuated on Saturday.

The orders caused panic and confusion, while some said they were unaware of the map at all. The south of Gaza is packed with about 2 million people, including hundreds of thousands who fled from the north earlier in the war. Palestinians are unable to go back to northern Gaza, or go to neighboring Egypt. They could only move around within a roughly 85-square-mile area.

“There is no place to go,” Emad Hajar told the Associated Press. "They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south."

Kamala Harris discusses future of Gaza with regional leaders

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, key mediators in the Israel-Hamas conflict, on Saturday to discuss the efforts to release all hostages taken by Hamas and the future of people in Gaza after the war, according to the White House.

The meetings were held on the sidelines of the U.N. climate conference known as COP28 in Dubai, where Harris is representing the Biden administration along with other senior officials.

Harris told Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that the United States "under no circumstances" would allow for the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, the "besiegement" of Gaza or any redrawing of the borders of the territory.

"She emphasized that these efforts can only succeed if they are pursued in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people towards a state of their own led by a revitalized Palestinian Authority and have significant support from the international community and the countries of the region," the White House said.

US protester set self on fire outside Atlanta Israeli consulate

A person was in critical condition Friday in the U.S. after lighting themself on fire in an apparent protest outside an office building that houses the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, authorities said.

The protester was being treated for third-degree burns across their body, Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith said at a news briefing Friday afternoon, and a security guard who tried to stop the person suffered burns to his wrist and leg. Authorities did not release the protester’s name, age or gender.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a Palestinian flag was found at the scene. He added there was no indication the incident was linked to terrorism.

- Minnah Arshad

Contributing: The Associated Press