Israel hits Gaza City building as troops push offensive

ISRAEL'S army said it bombed a Gaza City residential tower at the weekend after issuing evacuation orders, just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military was "deepening" its assault on the Gaza Strip's key urban centre.

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Israel has not publicly announced the start of a major offensive to seize the city, which Netanyahu's cabinet approved last month, but the military has intensified bombings and operations in the area for weeks, in a bid to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"The IDF (Israeli military) struck a high-rise building that was used by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the area of Gaza City," the military said in a statement referring to Al-Roya Tower, saying it had been used "to monitor the location of... troops in the area".