As Israeli forces have moved further into southern Gaza, airstrikes and close-combat fighting are approaching areas crowded with more than a million people seeking refuge from the destruction across the rest of the territory.

The prospect of major operations taking place in territory with such a dense and vulnerable population is “deeply concerning”, say aid officials, who fear Gaza’s largest remaining hospital may have to be closed or evacuated.

Witnesses reported the sound of ground combat and explosions throughout Friday in western Khan Younis, the main city in the south of Gaza, where Israel says many members and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are hiding.

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