Israeli aircraft, tanks and artillery intensified attacks on Gaza City and surrounding areas on Wednesday, killing 123 Palestinians in the previous 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. The figure represents the highest daily toll in a week and includes strikes on Zeitoun, Shejaia and other districts, as well as gunfire incidents that left dozens of people dead while they queued for food aid. The surge in violence comes as Israel prepares a renewed ground offensive aimed at retaking Gaza City, a move green-lit by the army’s chief of staff. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his view that Palestinians should be allowed to leave the territory, while the Israeli military said it had separately killed five armed militants who were wearing World Central Kitchen uniforms in an effort to avoid detection. Humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported eight additional deaths from malnutrition and starvation, three of them children, lifting the conflict’s famine-related toll to 235, including 106 children. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UNRWA said at least 2.4 million Gazans—half of them children—face acute food shortages, with aid deliveries still falling well below basic needs despite recent increases in truck convoys. In Cairo, a Hamas delegation held another round of talks with Egyptian mediators on a possible cease-fire that would halt the Israeli offensive, deliver more aid and address the fate of hostages. Diplomatic sources said discussions remain deadlocked over the future governance of the enclave, even as the death toll from nearly two years of war surpasses 61,000, according to Palestinian officials.