Destroyed buildings amid aftermath of israeli strikes

Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Thursday, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding several others.

The latest strikes came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against U.S. pressure to wind down the offensive against Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, who have fired thousands of rockets at Israel.

Explosions shook Gaza City and orange flares lit up the night sky, with airstrikes also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern town of Khan Younis.

As the sun rose, residents surveyed the rubble from at least five family homes destroyed in Khan Younis.

There were also heavy airstrikes on al-Saftawi Street, a commercial thoroughfare in Gaza City.

Heavy strikes pummeled the narrow streets of the Jabaliya refugee camp overnight, causing widespread destruction.

The attacks caused rows of shoddily constructed homes, with roofs of rusted sheets corrugated metal, to collapse into a deluge of falling bricks and concrete.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the neighborhood.

"Never in my life have I seen such destruction as I've seen now. We didn't even have three minutes to put a slipper on our foot. We couldn't. We woke up our children, even our clothes, we couldn't take with us," resident Ibrahim Afana.

The Israeli military said it struck at least four homes of Hamas commanders, targeting "military infrastructure," as well as a weapons storage unit at the home of a Hamas fighter in Gaza City.

An Israeli airstrike smashed into the Khawaldi family's two-story house in Khan Younis, destroying it.

The 11 residents, who were sleeping in a separate area out of fear, were all wounded and hospitalized, said Shaker al-Khozondar, a neighbor.

Shrapnel hit his family home next door, killing Hoda al-Khozondar, his aunt, and wounding her daughter and two cousins, he said.

Weam Fares, a spokesman for a nearby hospital, confirmed her death and said at least 10 people were wounded in strikes overnight.

Netanyahu has pushed back against calls from the Biden administration to wrap up the operation that has left hundreds dead.

It marks the first public rift between the two close allies since the fighting began last week and could complicate international efforts to reach a cease-fire.

His pushback also poses a difficult early test of the U.S.-Israel relationship.