WATCH LIVE: The Pentagon holds a press conference as heavy fighting rages in northern Gaza

Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh will hold a news conference as heavy fighting is reported in the northern Gaza Strip.

The event is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT. Watch it in the player above.

Palestinians say heavy fighting is underway in northern Gaza, where Israel has ordered another major evacuation and launched a ground operation a year after it began its war with Hamas.

At least 15 people, including two women and four children, were killed in fighting in Jabaliya on Tuesday, the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital said.

The Israeli military said it killed about 20 militants in airstrikes and ground fighting in Jabaliya. It said troops found a large quantity of weapons, including grenades and rifles.

The north, including Gaza City, was the first target of the Israeli ground offensive. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble and the region has been largely isolated from Israeli troops since last October, when Israel ordered everyone to flee.

Hundreds of thousands of people remained despite the harsh conditions, prompting Israel to order another mass evacuation in recent days. Israel has prevented residents who left the north during the war from returning.

Israeli forces battle Hamas militants in Jabaliya, home to a densely populated urban refugee camp that dates back to the 1948 war over the creation of Israel. Palestinian residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed Jabaliya as well as Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, towns near the border.

“The situation is extremely difficult. The bombings and explosions have not stopped,” said Mahmoud Abu Shehatah, a resident of Jabaliya. “It’s like the first days of the war.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised “total victory” over Hamas, even as the war has spread to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups across the region. Months of diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza appear to have failed, with each side accusing the other of making unacceptable demands.