More Palestinians displaced as Israel continues attacks in south Gaza

Medical facilities are at risk of collapse in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city now at the focus of Israel’s offensive, the Gaza Health Ministry warned on Sunday, as fighting raged across the Palestinian enclave.

Residents said Israeli planes and tanks also pounded areas in Gaza City to the north, where Israel has slowly been pulling out troops. The fighting could be heard in the nearby towns of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, near to Gaza City.

Israel’s military said it was engaged in “intensive battles” in Khan Younis, where it said troops “eliminated terrorists and located large quantities of weapons”.

The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters clashed with Israeli troops in several areas across the enclave overnight. Hamas’ armed wing said its fighters destroyed two Israeli tanks in Khan Younis.

The latest fighting came as U.N. officials and aid groups urged countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians, a vital source of aid in Gaza. At least nine countries have paused funding following allegations by Israel that some of UNRWA’s staff were involved in the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said 165 Palestinians were killed and 290 wounded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total killed in Israeli strikes since the war began to 26,422. Officials in the Hamas-ruled territory do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count.

One strike on a house in a suburb of Gaza City killed eight people, health officials said.

Israel launched a war it says aims to eliminate Hamas after the militants’ unprecedented cross-border assault, in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 abducted, according to Israeli officials.