The Israeli Defense Forces have asked tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians who recently sought refuge in Gaza's Khan Younis to evacuate amid expanding ground operatons and widespread bombing.
According to AP, the Israeli military dropped leaflets asking people in the Khan Younis neighbourhoods to evacuate further south towards the Egyptian border.
The IDF said its airstrikes targeted Hamas tunnel shafts, command centres and weapons storage facilities in Khan Younis area and that its drone killed five Hamas militants.
The intensified offensive comes after a weeklong ceasefire is aimed at eliminating Hamas militants after the group, designated as terrorists by Israel, attacked the country on October 7 and took several people as hostage. The ongoing war has already claimed lives of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Reports suggest that Israel is intensifying the offensive before another likely ceasefire amid pressure from its main ally, the US.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that any further exchange of hostages and prisoners should be tied to a permanent ceasefire.
