Israel bombs Gaza City with 'unprecedented ferocity'; tens of thousands evacuate.

Israeli troops have killed at least 43 Palestinians in Gaza since daybreak, bringing the death toll from man-made starvation to 441.

According to witnesses, Israel is hammering Gaza City with some of the most powerful attacks in two years of conflict as it continues its operation to conquer the territory's major metropolitan center.

Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-language spokesman for the Israeli military, warned Gaza City's beleaguered population on Friday that it would be deploying "unprecedented force" and urged them to "take this opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands" moving south on the al-Rashid coastal road, which is now the only permitted escape route.

According to the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, around 450,000 Palestinians have evacuated the territory since Israel commenced its operations in August. At the time, Gaza City had a population of around one million.

On Friday, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reported "distressing" reports from Gaza City, with residents pressed west towards the beachfront road, unable to relax due to the unrelenting tempo of assaults targeted at destroying houses and infrastructure.

"This current military operation is completely destroying entire blocks, and there are still families trapped beneath the debris of the targeted houses, particularly in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood," said Abu Azzoum, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza.