GAZA/JERUSALEM - At least 82 Palestinians were killed, dozens more injured on Wednesday in intensive Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, civil defense in Gaza said.

An Israeli airstrike targeted a restaurant and a densely populated market nearby in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City, killing at least 39 people and wounding 86 others, according to Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for civil defense in Gaza.

"I heard the whistle first, then the explosion... I saw bodies lying around, including two children who were selling coffee and another who was selling corn," said Ibrahim Saad, 27, a survivor being treated at Al-Shifa Hospital.

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Another eyewitness, Abu Saleh Abdo, said the strike came without warning.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike on Al-Karama School in the Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, killed 19 people, many of them displaced civilians seeking shelter. The school was reportedly hit twice, according to eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses said.

Additional Israeli airstrikes claimed at least 24 more lives in various parts of the enclave, Basal added.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Wednesday that the Israeli army committed "four massacres" on civilian facilities within 24 hours, claiming that the attacks aim to "cause the greatest possible number of civilian casualties."

The Israeli army has not commented on these reported attacks yet.

Meanwhile, fighting continued between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces pushing forward on multiple fronts in the coastal enclave.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in separate statements that its fighters had targeted Israeli forces in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, causing casualties among the soldiers, though no specific numbers were provided.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army, but the Israeli public radio Kan reported that four soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, in a bomb explosion.

The escalation of Israeli attacks on various areas of the Gaza Strip comes amid the continued closure of crossings and the prevention of aid from entering, exacerbating the humanitarian situation to unprecedented levels.

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Also on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that a planned expanded military operation in the Gaza Strip would force the enclave's entire population to either relocate to a confined area in the south or to "voluntarily" emigrate, as Israeli forces prepare to seize control of the entire territory.

"We will act with full force and will not stop until all objectives are achieved, including the voluntary emigration plan for Gaza residents," Katz said during a a situational assessment meeting with senior commanders held in preparation for the operation, according to a statement issued on his behalf.

The announcement came amid growing international concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where populations have faced mass starvation and famine since Israel blocked all humanitarian aid on March 2.

Katz said the new operation, approved by the Israeli security cabinet on Monday, is intended to dismantle Hamas's military and governing capabilities and to secure the release of 59 hostages still held in the enclave.

Unlike past operations, "the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will remain in every area it captures," he said.

However, he added that the Israeli forces are still in preparations, providing "a window of opportunity, until the end of the US president's visit to the region, to reach a hostage deal based on the 'Witkoff plan.'"

US President Donald Trump will visit the Gulf from May 13 to 16.

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The "Witkoff plan," named after US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and formally presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early March, proposed the release of additional Israeli hostages in return for a 50-day truce and a promise to engage in talks on a longer truce. The proposal did not mention a withdrawal of Israeli forces or the release of Palestinian prisoners, two of Hamas's key demands.

Katz said that even if a ceasefire is reached, "Israel will not withdraw from the security buffer zone," referring to land the Israeli army has already seized.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday lowered the number of living hostages in the Gaza Strip from 24 to 21.

"There is no dispute that 21 hostages are alive," Netanyahu said in a video posted via his social media accounts. "Unfortunately, there are three others whose conditions are uncertain."

Hamas took 251 hostages to Gaza during its Oct 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. The Israeli side said previously that 59 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with 24 of them believed to be alive.