A Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire near the country's southern border on Tuesday, Lebanon's army said, the first such death since cross-border hostilities began in October.
"An army military position in the... Adaysseh area was bombarded by the Israeli enemy, leaving one soldier martyred and three others injured," the Lebanese army said in a statement.
Israel army says troops in ground combat inside Gaza's Khan Yunis
Israeli troops on Tuesday were engaged in ground combat in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said as it expands operations in its war on Hamas.
"We are in the heart of Jabalia, in the heart of Shejaiya (in northern Gaza), and now also in the heart of Khan Yunis," Southern Command chief Major General Yaron Finkelman was quoted as saying in an army statement, describing "the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation."
Israel threatens ‘aggressive action’ against trapped civilians in south Gaza
Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday after expanding their offensive deeper into the besieged territory, with warnings that an "even more hellish scenario" was unfolding for trapped civilians.
Israel had initially focused its offensive on the north of the territory, but the army is now also dropping leaflets on parts of the south, telling Palestinian civilians there to flee to other areas.
Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers were seen on Monday near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, which is packed with civilians who fled their homes further north in the territory earlier in the war, witnesses told AFP.
The army said Monday it was taking "aggressive" action against "Hamas and other organisations" in Khan Yunis, warning that the main road in the north and east of the city "constitutes a battlefield".
Hamas claimed via Telegram its fighters had targeted two personnel carriers and a tank near Khan Yunis.
Rocket salvos were again fired from Gaza towards Israeli territory.
As the war spreads, international aid organisations have warned that civilians in the densely populated territory are running out of places to flee to.
"Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go," said Lynn Hastings, UN 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.
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Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group's October 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 Gaza.
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.
- 'Like an earthquake' -
In the city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, resident Abu Jahar al-Hajj said an air strike near his home felt "like an earthquake".
"Pieces of concrete started falling on us," he said.
In Deir al-Balah further to the north, Walaa Abu Libda found shelter at a hospital, but said her four-year-old daughter remained trapped under rubble.
"I don't know if she is dead or alive," said Libda, one of an estimated 1.8 million people displaced in Gaza -- roughly three-quarters of the population, according to UN figures.
The Israeli army on Tuesday denied telling the World Health Organization to empty an aid warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours before ground operations in the area render it unusable.
On Monday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X that his organisation had received a notification from the military "that we should remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours".
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.
"We have asked civilians to evacuate the battlefield and we have provided a designated humanitarian zone inside the Gaza Strip," Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.
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Speaking on condition of anonymity, senior Israeli military officials admitted that around two civilians have been killed for every dead Hamas fighter in the Gaza Strip.
"Hopefully it (the ratio) will be much lower" in the coming phase of the war, one of the officials added.
To that end, the officials said, the army is using high-tech mapping software to track population movements inside the Gaza Strip and issue evacuation orders.
The system incorporates mobile phone and other signals, aerial surveillance and word from local sources, as well as AI, to maintain a constantly updating map showing population concentrations across the territory.
But the UN humanitarian office OCHA has questioned the usefulness of such a tool in an area where access to telecommunications and electricity is sporadic.
On Monday, all mobile and telephone services were cut across Gaza "due to the cut-off of main fibre routes from the Israeli side", according to Palestinian telecommunications firm Paltel.
On Tuesday, global network monitor Netblocks confirmed Gaza residents were experiencing "a total loss of communications".
- 'Intolerable' -
The latest fighting followed the collapse last Friday of a Qatar-mediated truce that saw scores of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
According to the Israeli military, at least 137 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but Hamas has ruled out more releases until a permanent ceasefire is agreed.
With several women still among the hostages, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said one of the reasons why the truce fell apart could be that Hamas did not want them to "talk about what happened to them during their time" in captivity.
Israeli police have been exploring evidence of sexual violence against women during the October 7 attacks.
A senior police officer recently told Israel's parliament that an inquiry had gathered more than 1,500 testimonies. Allegations include gang rape and post-mortem mutilation.
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.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah positions in Lebanon in response to launches on Monday from Lebanon into Israel.
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.
UN foresees 'hellish scenario' as aid to Gaza stalls
A UN official warned on Monday that "an even more hellish scenario" looms in Gaza in which humanitarian aid simply grinds to a halt.
"The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist," said Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories.
Since the end of a seven-day truce, Israeli forces have pushed into southern Gaza, "forcing tens of thousands... into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety," Hastings said.
"Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go."
"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.
Hastings, a Canadian, rejected the idea of "safe zones" urged upon Israel by the US government where people are still unable to move about freely.
"These zones cannot be safe nor humanitarian when unilaterally declared," she said.
"What we see today," Hastings added, "are shelters with no capacity, a health system on its knees, a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition for people already mentally and physically exhausted: a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster."
Further complicating aid deliveries, two major roads in Gaza have been declared off-limits to UN teams and trucks, Hastings said.
Hastings has her base in Jerusalem but Israel last week informed the UN that it would not renew her visa, accusing her of not being "impartial."
The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meantime called again for "a sustained humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional and immediate release of all remaining hostages."
The Israeli army has tightened its grip on southern Gaza, where dozens of tanks entered Monday as part of its offensive against Hamas militants, almost two months after the start of the war triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Islamist movement on Israel.
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- Communications severed -
The main telecom company in the Gaza Strip said Monday that mobile telephone services and internet connections had been cut across the territory.
"We regret to announce that all telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost due to the cut-off of main fibre routes from the Israeli side," Paltel said in a message on social media. "Gaza is... blacked out again."
- 'Intolerable suffering' -
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that she had arrived in war-torn Gaza, warning that the suffering there was "intolerable".
"I repeat our urgent call for civilians to be protected in line with the laws of war and for aid to enter unimpeded," Mirjana Spoljaric said on X, formerly Twitter.
She added that "the hostages must be released and ICRC allowed to safely visit them".
- US seeks entry of more fuel -
The United States said Monday it was asking Israel to let more fuel into the Gaza Strip.
Fuel, which powers generators for electricity, and other humanitarian aid had entered the besieged Palestinian territory during a week-long truce that ended on Friday, when fighting between Israel and Hamas resumed.
"The Israeli government was not early on Friday allowing fuel to go in," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
"We had some very frank conversations with them about the need for fuel to come in and saw some fuel going in Friday" followed by more on Saturday, he said.
"We've made clear we want to see it back up not just to the level of fuel that went in during the pause, but actually higher."