Israeli forces carried out strikes on Gaza and battled militants on the ground Friday, as the UN's top court was due to rule on a plea to halt the military offensive, reports BSS.

Witnesses and AFP correspondents reported overnight air and naval strikes on Gaza City and gunfire to its south.

In northern Gaza's Jabalia area, where urban combat has flared again months after the start of Israeli operations there, the military said the bodies of three hostages had been retrieved in an operation during the night.

The military said the bodies of Israeli hostage Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux had been "rescued" and their families had been notified after forensic identification.

They were all "murdered" during the October 7 attack that sparked the war and taken into Gaza, the army said.

It follows the recovery last week of four bodies of hostages found in tunnels under Jabalia, including of Hernandez Radoux's girlfriend Shani Louk.

The military reported targeted raids in Jabalia and ongoing activity in central Gaza, and said "troops eliminated dozens of terrorists" in the north.

A Palestinian security source told AFP there were clashes between Israeli forces and militants in the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp, with another source at Kamal Adwan hospital saying it was "out of service, and has 14 medical staff trapped inside".

Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan