Israel has sent tanks back into the greater Khan Younis area and at least 70 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, Gaza medics said, after ordering evacuations of some districts it said had been used for renewed attacks by militants.
The Palestinians were killed by tank salvoes in the town of Bani Suhaila and other towns fringing the eastern side of Khan Younis, with the area also bombarded by air, they said.
Residents of the densely built-up area of southern Gaza said the tanks advanced for more than two kilometres into Bani Suhaila, forcing residents to flee under fire.
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"It is like doomsday," one resident, who only identified himself as Abu Khaled, told Reuters via chat app.
"People are fleeing under fire, many are dead and wounded on the roads," he added.
The Gaza health ministry said the dead included several women and children, adding that at least 200 other people had been injured by Israeli fire.
The Gaza ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its death tallies.
Around 400,000 people are living in the targeted areas and dozens of families have begun to leave their houses, Palestinian officials said, adding they were not given time to get out of danger before the Israeli strikes began.
Some families fled on donkey carts, others on foot, carrying mattresses and other belongings.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two of its clinics located in eastern Khan Younis are not in operation because of the new Israeli offensive.
At Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, some people stood outside the morgue to bid farewell to dead relatives.
"We are tired, we are tired in Gaza, every day our children are martyred, everyday, every moment," said Ahmed Sammour, who lost several relatives in bombings on eastern Khan Younis.
"No one told us to evacuate. They brought four floors crashing down on civilians ... and the bodies they could reach, they brought to the refrigerator (morgue)," Mr Sammour added.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the strikes on the eastern section of Khan Younis, whose population initially fled their homes when Israeli tanks stormed in several months ago, before returning after they withdrew to rebuild their lives.
In nearby Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent used by local journalists inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, killing one of them and wounding two other people, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
The new death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli offensive to 163, it added.
Evacuation orders
Meanwhile the Israeli military said it had issued new evacuation orders due to renewed Palestinian militant attacks, including rockets launched from the targeted areas in eastern Khan Younis.
The orders did not include health institutions, Palestinians said.
The military said it was adjusting the boundaries of a designated humanitarian zone in coastal Al-Mawasi - to the west of Khan Younis - to keep the civilian population away from areas of combat with Hamas-led Palestinian militants.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Services said Israel's new orders showed it had downsized the humanitarian-designated areas in southern and central areas, where 1.7 million people were sheltering, to 48sq/km from 65sq/km in the past.
Palestinians, the United Nations and international relief agencies have said there is no safe place left in Gaza.
Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis urged residents to donate blood because of the large number of casualties being rushed into the medical centre.
"A family, including children, were all torn to pieces while they were sleeping," said one man who arrived at the hospital in an ambulance carrying the bodies.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas after militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, according to Israeli tallies.
The death toll among Palestinians in Israel's retaliatory offensive since then had reached at least 39,006 as of today, Gaza health authorities said.
Two Israeli hostages in Gaza die - Israel
Israel has said that two more of its hostages who were being held in Gaza have died, but did not give further any details, only noting that investigations were under way.
Israeli authorities have so far pronounced dead in absentia around a third of the 120 hostages who are still being held in Gaza.
Yagev Buchshtab, a 35-year-old sound technician, and Alex Dancyg, a 76-year-old historian, were abducted from their homes during Hamas' 7 October attack on southern Israel.
"Yagev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country," the Hostage Families Forum said in a statement.
"Their death in captivity is a tragic reflection of the consequences of foot-dragging in negotiations."
Mr Dancyg also had Polish citizenship and the country's foreign ministry expressed sadness at his death.
"Poland will continue to demand the unconditional release of all the abductees from Gaza," the ministry said.
Hostages who were held captive with him reported that Mr Dancyg had spent his time in captivity giving history lectures to fellow captives.
Mr Buchshtab was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nirim along with his wife Rimon Buchshtab-Kirsht, who was released after 50 days in captivity.
Netanyahu to meet Biden in Washington
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington this week, as he comes under pressure to end the war - both from Israelis, who want the hostages brought home, and from a US administration in turmoil over the presidential election.
The visit was orchestrated by the House of Representatives' Republican leadership, which has accused President Joe Biden of not showing sufficient support for Israel.
It is Mr Netanyahu's first visit to his most important international ally since returning for a record sixth term as prime minister at the end of 2022.
But it is being overshadowed by Mr Biden's decision not to seek re-election.
A meeting with Mr Biden - who is recovering from Covid-19 - may take place tomorrow.
Mr Netanyahu will be accompanied by Noa Argamani, a hostage rescued by Israeli commandos last month. Her presence has been criticised by other hostage families who say that the Israeli leader has not been doing enough to secure the release of their loved ones.
Mr Netanyahu is scheduled to address the US Congress on Wednesday.
The speech is likely to be less confrontational than an address Mr Netanyahu gave in 2015, when he attacked President Barack Obama's support for a nuclear deal with Iran.
The US is pushing Israel to resume talks on reaching a political agreement with the Palestinians, and also threating to withhold arms.
There was no immediate sign that Mr Netanyahu would see Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The two forged a close relationship during Mr Trump's presidency but Mr Trump has since criticised Mr Netanyahu and said that the Gaza war must end quickly.
Israel has been isolated internationally over its campaign in Gaza and the expansion of settlement-building in the occupied West Bank, along with Jewish settlers attacking Palestinians.
An opinion issued last Friday by the International Court of Justice that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal was criticised by Washington.
But it followed similar developments including a decision by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to seek an arrest warrant against Mr Netanyahu.
Mr Netanyahu has refused to establish an inquiry into the security failures before the 7 October attack on Israel.
Opinion polls show that most Israelis hold him responsible and would vote him out if elections were held.
Israelis due in Qatar for talks on Gaza truce requests
An Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Thursday to discuss new demands for a Gaza truce and hostage-prisoner exchange, a source with knowledge of the talks said.
The delegation would meet with mediator Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to discuss three Israeli requests, including control over the return of civilians to northern Gaza, the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks.
Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, has been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes efforts to broker a Gaza truce and a hostage-prisoner swap.
A proposed cessation of hostilities focuses on a phased approach, beginning with an initial truce.
Recent discussions have centred on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May, which he said had been proposed by Israel.
The source said Israel had demanded its forces remain in the so-called Philadelphi corridor, a 14km stretch along the Gaza-Egypt border, and that it controls the return of displaced Gazan civilians to the north of the Palestinian territory.
Israel has also asked that its troop positions in Gaza be resolved before the truce begins, the source added.
The source said the points were negotiable and an agreement was "doable", provided Israel does not remain in Gaza "indefinitely" and a solution is found for the Philadelphi corridor, with Egyptian mediators leading these efforts.
However, the source said Israel's return with extra demands was "a recurring theme" in the talks and Israel continually "moved the goalposts".
