Israeli ground forces have "started to operate" around a northern Gaza town, expanding an anti-Hamas offensive that will apparently see residents kept out indefinitely.

Israeli attacks have created deplorable conditions across Gaza, but humanitarian groups say the month-long siege of towns in the north have essentially rendered the area unlivable.And they accuse Israel's military of inflicting starvation and destruction to ensure hundreds of thousands of Palestinians can never return to their homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam was a “horrific anti-Semitic incident.”