Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers have entered the southern part of the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis, as an Israeli commander claimed that the army had almost completed its mission in the north.
Israeli military vehicles were on the southern part of Salah al-Din road, which runs from the north to the south of the strip, “firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area”, a witness, Moaz Mohammed, told the AFP news agency.
The reports came soon after the Israeli military issued fresh orders to Palestinians in about 20 areas in central Gaza to move further south, posting maps online.
Despite the Israeli instruction, there was heavy bombing in the south of Gaza overnight and early on Monday.
James Elder, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency, Unicef, said the “worst bombardment of the war right now [is] in south Gaza”. Airstrikes were coming every 10 minutes, he said.
He posted on X: “Despite what has been assured, attacks in the south of Gaza are every bit as vicious as what the north endured. Somehow, it’s getting worse for children and mothers.”
A hospital in Khan Younis said it had been overwhelmed with casualties, with injured people lying in the hallways.
Israel is under mounting diplomatic pressure to avoid civilian deaths in its military operation in Gaza. The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry says about 70% of the 15,500 casualties in the war have been women and children.
At the weekend, Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, said: “The United States is unequivocal: international humanitarian law must be respected. Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating.”
On Monday, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said Israel must avoid civilian casualties, adhere to humanitarian law and make it possible for people in Gaza to move to places of safety.
Meanwhile, Brig Gen Hisham Ibrahim, the commander of Israel’s armoured corps, said ground forces were close to achieving their war mission in northern Gaza.
“The goals in the northern section have almost been met,” he told Israel’s Army Radio. “We are beginning to expand the ground manoeuvre to other parts of the strip, with one goal: to topple the Hamas terrorist group.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday that it had struck “approximately 200 Hamas terror targets”.
The IDF also said its navy had “a number of Hamas terror targets, assisting with the reinforcement of ground troops. The Hamas terror targets included observation posts belonging to the Hamas naval forces and terrorist infrastructure at the Gaza harbour.”
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the IDF’s chief spokesperson, said soldiers were coming “face-to-face” with Palestinian fighters.
Three Israeli soldiers – a 22-year-old major general, a 19-year-old sergeant and a 36-year-old commander – were killed in battles in Gaza on Sunday. The deaths bring the number of Israeli troops killed in the conflict to 75 since the operation began.
The military operation appears to be focused in and around Khan Younis, which Israel claims is a Hamas stronghold and where its top commanders are believed to be hiding out.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Khan Younis after fleeing from fighting in the north. According to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, about 1.8 million people in Gaza, roughly 75% of the population, have been displaced.
Some Israeli hostages are believed to be held in and around Khan Younis.
Israel has divided the area into “blocks”, indicating on social media and websites which are at risk of airstrikes. It has dropped thousands of leaflets with QR codes linking to websites.
A map posted on X on Monday morning showed about a quarter of the city marked in yellow as territory that must be evacuated immediately. Three arrows pointed south and west, telling people to head further towards the Mediterranean sea and the Egyptian border.
The information may be difficult for some Palestinians to access. Internet connectivity in Gaza has been patchy for several weeks, and some people are having difficulty charging their phones because of power shortages.
It is also unclear how the information provided by the IDF of its bombing intentions would not be of assistance to Hamas leaders and operatives, who have been identified by Israel as its military target.
Israeli media reported that 21-year-old Jonathan Samerano, who has been missing since Hamas launched its assault on Israel on 7 October, is dead. Samerano had been at the Supernova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas attacked from the Gaza Strip. His parents had been told to assume he had been taken hostage and was in Gaza.
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