Israeli bombing killed dozens of people in besieged Gaza on January 4, the Health Ministry of the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said, with regional tensions surging over the almost three-month-old war.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was headed back to the Middle East for his fourth trip to the region since the Hamas attack of October 7 triggered the bloodiest ever Gaza war.

Blinken is to hold talks with Palestinian officials in the occupied West Bank as well as Israeli leaders and will “discuss immediate measures to increase substantially humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

The Israeli military, in its campaign to destroy the Islamist militant group, reported more strikes in and around Gaza City, now a largely devastated urban combat zone, and Khan Yunis, the biggest city in the territory’s south.

The Israeli army said it had killed Hamas fighters in the Khan Yunis area, struck “terrorist infrastructure” and hit militants attempting to “place an explosive device near soldiers”.