Photos: Palestinians in Gaza reel from heavy Israeli bombing

Gaza City, Gaza Strip: Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into UN shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.

Palestinians slavage household items from damaged apartments following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City's al-Rimal district.

This image provided by Maxar Technologies, shows an explosion from an airstrike in Gaza City, Tuesday Oct. 10, 2023.

Fleeing women walk with the children along a street in Gaza City.

Palestinians fleeing their homes amid Israeli strikes, ride a donkey cart carrying their belongings, in Gaza City.

Residents say there is no real escape in Gaza. When war breaks out, as it has four times since the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007, even United Nations facilities that are supposed to be safe zones risk becoming engulfed in the fighting. The UN said that an airstrike directly hit one of its shelters Sunday and damaged five other schools-turned-shelters on Monday. There was no immediate word of casualties.

The downtown Rimal area, Gaza City’s bustling commercial district with high-rises home to international media and aid organizations, had until then not been an immediate Israeli target, unlike border towns or densely populated refugee camps.

Injured civilians arrive at a hospital following Israeli airstrikes in the Rimal district. | But as the Israeli military went neighborhood to neighborhood with rapid and intensifying airstrikes, the heavy bombardments reached the heart of Gaza City.

The bombing in Rimal and the potential risks of sheltering in UN schools highlighted the desperate search by Gaza civilians for refuge, with the territory's safe spaces rapidly shrinking. Ahead of the Israeli military's warning to civilians on Monday that Rimal would be hit, families staggered into the streets with whatever belongings they could carry and without a destination.

So far, the Gaza toll stands at about 700 dead and thousands wounded, according to Gaza health officials, a punishing response to the militant group’s attack that has killed over 900 Israelis. More than 150 Israeli civilians and soldiers have been taken captive.

Israel says it takes pains to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas sites in Gaza. But the military long has carried out airstrikes in crowded residential neighborhoods, inevitably harming civilians and civilian infrastructure. Hamas authorities on Monday reported the destruction of seven mosques and 15 civilian homes that killed many members of the same family.

The Israeli defense minister also has ordered a “complete siege” on the already blockaded Gaza Strip, vowing to block food, water and fuel from the territory. Residents described a dangerous dance around the heavy Israeli bombing — fleeing home, crashing at relatives’ apartments, fleeing again to UN schools and then starting all over again in an attempt to find some sense of safety.

On Saturday after the massive Hamas attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Gaza civilians of the horrors to come, promising to unleash the full force of the Israeli military on the strip. “Get out now,” he said, addressing Palestinians in Gaza. “Because we will operate everywhere.”

Palestinian men look at the destruction outside a damaged apartment building following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on October 10, 2023.