For the third time in as many days, the IDF on Sunday struck a Gaza City high-rise residential building that it said was being used by Hamas, after issuing several warnings to people in the area to evacuate.

Meanwhile, rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel for the first time in three weeks. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

The strike on the al-Ru’ya Tower came as medical sources in the Hamas-run Strip reported 50 people, including 46 from northern Gaza, killed by Israeli fire across Gaza since dawn on Sunday, as well as five malnutrition-related deaths, including three children, over the past 24 hours.

One person was killed in the IDF strike on al-Ru’ya Tower, the al-Quds hospital said in a statement.

Witness Mohammed Al-Nazli told AFP that the bombing of the Al-Roya tower “felt like an earthquake” and that the building was “completely destroyed and turned to rubble.”

Commenting on the army’s leveling of high-rises over the past days, Nazli said it was “extremely terrifying, and we don’t know how much more we can endure.”

According to the IDF, Hamas had “installed intelligence gathering means” at the building and “positioned observation posts to monitor the location of IDF troops in the area.” The IDF also said Hamas operatives had planted many explosive devices near the building as part of preparations for the military’s operation to take over Gaza City.

The IDF on Saturday called on Gaza residents to flee south to a new “humanitarian zone.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that over 100,000 people have fled Gaza City.

It is estimated that there were some 1 million people in the city.

The IDF’s warning Saturday was followed by two urgent evacuation notices for people in and near al-Ru’ya Tower and another Gaza City high-rise that was struck roughly an hour later. On Sunday, the IDF again called on people in the area of al-Ru’ya to flee immediately before it struck the building.

The military on Friday also blew up Gaza City’s Mushtaha Tower after issuing an evacuation warning, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the explosion signified the opening of the “gates of Hell in Gaza.”

Israel did not provide evidence to show Hamas was using the buildings, an accusation the terror group has denied.

Elsewhere in Gaza City on Sunday, the IDF in the morning bombed the al-Tawheed Wal Sunna mosque in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood, according to Palestinian media.

No casualties were reported, and footage from the scene was captured on a hand-held camera pointed at the building ahead of the explosion, indicating that the IDF gave prior warning of the attack. The military did not immediately comment on the strike.

While mosques and other religious buildings are protected under international law, they can be targeted if they are used for military purposes. The IDF has accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including mosques.

Also Sunday morning, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, setting off sirens in Gaza border communities and the nearby town of Netivot in the first rocket launch from Gaza in three weeks, the IDF said.

One of the rockets was intercepted while the second landed in an unpopulated area, the military said. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad later claimed responsibility for the rocket launch, saying on Telegram that it had aimed at Netivot.

Meanwhile, the military said Sunday that troops recently razed a Hamas tunnel spanning hundreds of meters in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

The IDF published a video of the demolition and said the tunnel was located during operations of the Nahal Brigade in the area. The tunnel featured a room that was used by Hamas’s forces in Zeitoun to coordinate attacks, according to the military.

Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday that Israel killed a terrorist who took part in the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, and bragged to his parents that he had personally slaughtered 10 Jews.

According to Netanyahu, Israel killed the man, then called his parents to inform them.

In a phone call from the October 7 onslaught, released by Israel days after the massacre that sparked the Gaza war, the man could be heard excitedly telling his parents that he was in a kibbutz near the Gaza border. “Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!” he said, according to an English translation.

Palestinian media in Gaza identified the man on Saturday as Mahmoud Afana, and said he was killed in Deir al-Balah.

Netanyahu also indicated at the cabinet meeting that around 100,00 civilians have left Gaza City amid the widening military operation there.

“About 100,000 people have left Gaza. Hamas is trying to do everything to prevent them from leaving and to keep them there to serve as human shields,” said the premier. His office later clarified to The Times of Israel that he was referring to Gaza City, not the entire Strip.

Netanyahu also accused Hamas of shooting women and children in the legs in an effort to prevent them from fleeing.

“We want to focus on the terrorists themselves, and allow the civilian population to get out,” said Netanyahu, accusing Hamas of shooting women and children in the legs in an effort to prevent them from fleeing.

“Our effort in Gaza against the last [Hamas] strongholds – essentially the last important stronghold, Gaza City – is part of our effort to complete the dismantling of the Iranian axis stranglehold,” he said.

The UN estimates that around 1 million Palestinians remain in Gaza City. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million population has been displaced.

Last month, the UN officially declared there was a famine in northern Gaza. Israel, which paused the delivery of aid into Gaza for nearly three months until mid-May, has rejected the report.

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher on Sunday said there was a “narrow window to prevent” famine from spreading farther in Gaza.

“There is a narrow window – until the end of September – to prevent famine from spreading to Deir al Balah (in central Gaza) and Khan Younis (southern Gaza). That window is now closing fast,” he said.

Israel has accused Hamas of hijacking aid shipments, and the UN of failing to deliver them.

COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency that deals with humanitarian issues, said on Sunday that over the past week aid from more than 1,900 trucks, most supplying food, was distributed in Gaza.

“We will continue facilitating humanitarian aid into Gaza for the civilian population — not Hamas,” COGAT said in a statement.