Ammon News - The Israeli military said it will close on Wednesday the last remaining route for residents of southern Gaza to access the north, as it presses its offensive on Gaza City.

"Al-Rashid Street will be closed to traffic from the southern sector area at 12:00 (0900 GMT)," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

"Movement southward will be allowed for those who were unable to evacuate Gaza City. At this stage, the (Israeli military) permits free movement southward without inspection."

In recent weeks, few people have moved from the south to the north as the military has intensified its siege on Gaza City. However, Wednesday's decision will put pressure on those who are yet to leave Gaza City and also prevent hundreds of thousands of residents who have fled south from returning to their homes, likely deepening fears in Gaza of permanent displacement.

It would also stop the transfer by local merchants of goods from the south to the north, which could worsen food shortages in Gaza City.

Israeli planes and tanks pounded residential neighborhoods throughout the night, residents in Gaza City said. Local health authorities said that at least 17 people across Gaza had been killed by the military on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City.

A strike on the old city in northwestern Gaza City killed seven people, while six people sheltering in a school in another part of the city were killed in a separate strike, medics said.

Meanwhile, Hamas's review of US President Donald Trump's Gaza plan stretched into a third day on Wednesday, a source close to the militant group said.

Trump on Tuesday gave Hamas "three or four days" to respond to the plan he outlined this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has backed the proposal to end Israel's almost two-year-old war with the Palestinian group.