Israeli forces have advanced to the main city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where they are engaging in fierce battles with the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas.

The Israeli millitary announced on Wednesday that they had carried out about 250 airstrikes over the past 24 hours and sent their ground troops and tanks into Khan Younis.

Hamas claims to have destroyed 24 Israeli military vehicles and killed or injured eight soldiers in the city.

According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, the Israeli military suspects that the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, and other top officials could be hiding in an underground tunnel facility in the city. Israeli forces are expected to focus on searching the tunnels.

As fierce fighting continues, civilian casualties are continuing to grow in Gaza.

Emergency vehicles carrying the injured, many of them children, were seen arriving one after another at a hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday.

Health authorities in Gaza say the death toll in the enclave since the start of the fighting has reached 16,248.

As more and more people are displaced and sanitary conditions worsen, the World Health Organization is warning of the increased risk of death from infectious diseases.

Residents of Khan Younis are fleeing to Rafah on the border with Egypt.
But in Rafah, there is not enough drinking water for the evacuees because equipment to desalinate seawater is not fully operating due to a lack of fuel.

A video taken on Tuesday shows children carrying empty plastic bottles, waiting in line for water.

A man whose family was driven from their home to Khan Younis and again forced to flee further to Rafah said they had to walk 12 or 13 kilometers to give their children drinking water. He added that he wonders how long this horror will continue.