Israeli ground troops for the first time have pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based.

Israeli tanks on Monday rolled into a part of central Gaza that has not previously seen ground operations in the 21-month war, according to Israeli media, aid agencies and witnesses.

Nearly 99 percent of the House voted against an amendment to nix just $500 million in military funding for Israel from the towering $830 billion Pentagon budget bill last week, with just six lawmakers voting for the amendment even as Israel prepares to erect a concentration camp in Gaza to confine Palestinians.

The expansion of the 21-month-long offensive into the densely populated area comes as Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with the UN warning that Israel’s assault on the territory and restriction of aid deliveries had left its 2.1mn population at risk of famine.

Americans are increasingly skeptical of Israeli actions in Gaza, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS that also finds rising sentiment that the US should pull back on military aid to Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck "the entrance" of Syria's military headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday.

Israeli troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

The World Health Organization said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah on Monday, compromising its operations in Gaza. The United Nations agency said the WHO staff residence was attacked three times,