Drone footage showed wide-scale destruction across al-Zahara City on Thursday (October 19), as Israeli airstrikes continued to target Gaza.

Four residential buildings were destroyed in the city, located just south of Gaza City, forcing hundreds of families into displacement, according to Hamas media.

Israel began its most intensive ever bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a 45 km-long (25 mile) enclave home to 2.3 million people, after the militant Palestinian group Hamas rampaged through Israeli towns killing 1,300 people on Oct. 7.

The Israeli military said last week all civilians should leave the northern half of the enclave, including the main Gaza City, as it prepares a ground assault to wipe out Hamas. Israeli bombing has killed more than 3,000 Palestinians in 12 days.

The Gaza health ministry said 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and 12,065 injured in Israeli air strikes on the besieged enclave since Oct 7. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. —Story from Reuters