Israeli troops battle Hamas militants in southern Gaza
Bulldozers assist in the search for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes on Deir Al Balah in the southern Gaza Strip, Dec. 5. EPA-Yonhap
Israeli forces battled Hamas militants in southern Gaza on Tuesday, prompting a U.N. warning of an "even more hellish scenario" as fighting pushes civilians into a steadily shrinking area of the besieged territory.
The army launched its ground invasion in Gaza's north, sending in troops and tanks to destroy Hamas and free hostages taken in unprecedented Oct. 7 cross-border attacks.
After an air and ground assault that has displaced tens of thousands and reduced much of the north to rubble, the army said it had moved south as it targets "Hamas strongholds throughout the Gaza Strip."
Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were seen near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, forcing already displaced civilians to pack up and flee again, witnesses told AFP.
With top Hamas leaders still at large and many hostages still in militant hands, the Israeli army said it was taking "aggressive" action against Palestinian militants in Khan Yunis, Gaza's second-largest city.
Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group's Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and which saw around 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.
In retaliation for the worst attack in its history, Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas and secure the release of all the hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says the war has killed nearly 15,900 people in the territory, around 70 percent of them women and children.
An explosion (background) after an airstrike as Israeli military vehicles (foreground) move at the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Dec. 5. EPA-Yonhap
'Nowhere safe'
International aid organisations have warned that civilians in the densely populated Strip are running out of places to flee to.
"Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go," said Lynn Hastings, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.
"If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond," Hastings said in a statement.
Ambulances, trucks and other vehicles delivered more bloodied, dust-covered casualties to Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital, including children.
Mohammed Saloul said he had received a call saying his sister had been killed in an air strike on a school where displaced people were sheltering.
"We headed there and asked the medics to help us but they said they couldn't access it, so we had to carry her body ourselves," he said.
After visiting another medical facility in the city, the European Hospital, International Committee of the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric said she saw horrors that were hard to describe.
"What shocked me the most were the children with atrocious injuries and at the same time having lost their parents with no one looking after them," she said in a video.
Their belongings piled onto donkey carts, battered vehicles and even camels, Gazans headed south to try to escape the expanding Israeli offensive.
An estimated 1.8 million people are displaced in Gaza — roughly three-quarters of the population, according to U.N. figures.
An Israeli order for people to move from Khan Yunis to the southern city of Rafah "created panic, fear and anxiety", according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
People were being pushed into an area that is less than one-third of the Gaza Strip, with roads to the south clogged, he said.
In northern Gaza, the military said it had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp and also raided a Hamas Internal Security Forces command and control centre.
It said the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the war began had risen to 80.
The World Health Organization said that it had almost completely emptied its aid warehouses in southern Gaza after being "advised" by Israel's army that "active combat" was looming.
Israel has denied that it ordered the WHO to empty its two warehouses in Khan Yunis.
Palestinians inspect the damage in a residential building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip following Israeli air strikes early on Dec. 4. AFP-Yonhap
Communications blackout
Key ally the United States has cautioned Israel to do more to avert civilian casualties as operations shift to the south.
Israel on Monday said it was not seeking to force Palestinian civilians to permanently leave their homes, but that it was instead seeking support from aid groups to improve infrastructure in a tiny coastal area of Gaza named Al-Mawasi.
As well as dropping leaflets telling Palestinian civilians to evacuate, the army has been warning people in Gaza to leave certain areas ahead of impending strikes via messages to mobile phones.
But on Monday, all mobile and telephone services were cut across Gaza, according to Palestinian telecommunications firm Paltel.
Media workers have paid a heavy price reporting on the conflict.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based rights group, said it had documented 63 journalists and media workers killed in the war: 56 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.
The fighting follows the collapse on Friday of a Qatar-mediated truce that saw scores of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has ruled out more releases until a permanent ceasefire is agreed.
Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, said his country was "constantly working to renew" the truce and denounced what he called "shameful" international inaction over the war.
The war has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict, with frequent exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah across Israel's border with Lebanon.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah positions in response to cross-border fire from Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed by Israeli fire on Tuesday — the first such death since cross-border hostilities began in October.
The Israel-occupied West Bank has also seen a surge in violence, with more than 250 Palestinians killed there since the war began, according to Palestinian authorities. (AFP)