The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered residents of Khan Younis to evacuate as it prepares to launch an "unprecedented attack".
People were ordered to move towards al-Mawasi in the west of the strip, in one of the largest evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in recent months.
An Arabic statement shared by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the area "will be considered a dangerous combat zone", adding: "Terrorist organizations have brought you disaster. For your safety, evacuate immediately."
The IDF launched a major new Gaza offensive on Saturday named Operation Gideon's Chariots. Hospitals have said more than 100 people have been killed in the last 24 hours.
One woman from Khan Younis told BBC News that the new evacuation order - which also covers the areas of Bani Suhaila and Abasan - was her "worst nightmare".
Another woman, who is already living under an evacuation order in central Gaza, said she would not move "because there is no place to go".
The IDF said its aim was to "destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations in this area".
Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would "take control" of the whole of Gaza.
In a video posted on social media, he said: "We are engaged in massive fighting - intense and substantial - and there is progress.
"We are going to take control of all areas of the Strip, that's what we're going to do."
The IDF said it had struck 160 targets across the strip in the last 24 hours. A warehouse containing medical supplies at the Nasser Hospital was hit by an Israeli strike overnight, Gaza's Hamas-run ministry of health reported.
British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said the strike happened "as Palestinians who were killed and wounded from other attacks were being brought to the hospital".
"We are just seeing all our work being burned to ashes," a spokesman for the charity said.
Separately, Palestinian media reported that Israeli special forces troops dressed in women's clothing had entered a Khan Younis home undercover and killed one man on Monday morning, before arresting his wife and child.
Israeli media named him as Ahmad Sarhan, and reported he was a senior member of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - a Palestinian militant group aligned with Hamas.
The IDF has previously said the expanded Gaza operations are aimed at "achieving all the war's objectives", including releasing hostages and "the defeat of Hamas".
But a group representing many of the hostage's families said the operation posed "grave and escalating dangers" to hostages still held in Gaza.
"Testimonies from released hostages describe significantly worsened treatment following military strikes, including physical abuse, restraint and reduced food," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.
On Sunday, Israel announced it would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter Gaza to ensure that "no starvation crisis develops" after blockading the territory for 10 weeks.
The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.
Some 58 hostages remain in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.
More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
Netanyahu says Israel will control Gaza as aid trucks prepare to enter
Reuters, Jerusalem, Cairo reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday Israel would control the whole of Gaza despite mounting international pressure that forced it to lift a blockade on aid supplies which has left the enclave on the brink of famine.
The Israeli military, which announced the start of a new operation on Friday, warned residents of the southern city of Khan Younis on Monday to evacuate to the coast immediately as it prepared "an unprecedented attack".
"There is huge fighting going on, intense and huge, we are going to control all parts of Gaza," Netanyahu said in a video message in which he pledged to achieve "complete victory" with both the release of the 58 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and the destruction of the Palestinian militant group.
Even as the military warned of the attack, Reuters reporters saw aid trucks heading towards northern Gaza after Netanyahu was forced to agree to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza in response to global concern at the reports of famine.
Netanyahu said U.S. senators he has known for years as supporters of Israel, "our best friends in the world", were telling him the scenes of hunger were draining vital support and bringing Israel close to a "red line, to a point where we might lose control".
"It is for that reason, in order to achieve victory, we have to somehow solve the problem," he said, in a message apparently addressed to far-right hardliners in his government who have insisted aid be denied to Gaza to stop it reaching Hamas.
Overnight, Israeli air strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians, according to local medics, as the military said it hit 160 targets across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including anti-tank positions, underground infrastructure and a weapons storage point.
The Israeli military said forces engaged in a new campaign dubbed "Operation Gideon's Chariots" were active across Gaza, seeking to eliminate Hamas' military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages seized in October 2023.
Netanyahu's office announced the easing of the aid blockade, saying Israel would let in limited amounts of food into Gaza.
Palestinian media said 50 trucks carrying flour, cooking oil and legumes would be allowed into the small coastal territory later on Monday, while Israeli media said nine trucks with baby food were expected to enter in coming hours.
Israel has faced rising international pressure over the blockade on humanitarian deliveries it imposed in March, shortly before breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, as aid agencies warn of famine in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Nahed Shheibar, owner of a transport company involved in aid distribution, urged Gazans not to intercept or loot the trucks.
UNDERCOVER RAID
Separately, residents and medics said an Israeli undercover force killed a militant leader in a raid in the south as the army proceeded with its new ground offensive against Hamas-led Palestinian militants in the enclave.
Ahmed Sarhan, a commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, a militant group allied with Hamas, was killed in the raid by forces that entered the heart of the city of Khan Younis disguised as displaced persons, according to the medics.
Residents said Sarhan fought the force before he was killed, and that the Israelis detained his wife and children before retreating in a bus towards the eastern border with Gaza under a cover of fire from planes.
"As you see, they entered, opened a hole in the wall, entered the house and executed the father and took an 11-year-old child and his mother, and left,” said an eyewitness, Mohammed Sarhan, referring to the PRC commander.
ESCALATING MILITARY CAMPAIGN
Palestinian health officials said more than 500 people have been killed in attacks in the past eight days as Israel has stepped up its military campaign.
Israel made its announcement on aid after sources on both sides reported no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar.
Former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who left the government last year after falling out with Netanyahu, said the fact Hamas remained in Gaza represented a "resounding failure" for the Israeli campaign and reflected the government's failure to plan for the future of the enclave.
If a plan to replace Hamas had been made, "there would have been no debate about whether the aid would fall into the hands of Hamas, because it would no longer control Gaza", Gallant said in a statement.
Netanyahu said ceasefire discussions touched on a truce and hostage deal as well as a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas militants and the demilitarisation of Gaza - terms previously rejected by Hamas.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for the lack of progress at the Doha talks and said escalating its offensive would be "a death sentence" for remaining hostages.
Israel's ground and air war has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities near Gaza's border on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
