Gaza: Fighting rages in city of Khan Younis

By Nathan Morley

Civilians in Gaza are struggling to escape intense as Israeli forces – backed by air power and tanks – push further into the city of Kan Younis.

Latest reports suggest the Jab-alia refugee camp in northern Gaza is the focus of heavy fighting as Israeli tanks surround the area.

Around 100,000 people are reportedly still in the camp, which has no functioning hospital or food supply.

Humanitarian catastrophe

No aid has reached the north since the humanitarian truce ended earlier this month. Amid all this, the World Health Organization (WHO) says it is concerned about the spread of disease, as displaced Palestinians wrestle to survive amid Israel's persistent bombardment.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that the humanitarian system in Gaza may collapse, and public order could completely break down.

He called for the UN Security Council to "help avert a humanitarian catastrophe" and emphasized that the situation was deteriorating rapidly.

In an exceptional move, he wrote to the president of the Security Council to demand action, invoking Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he became UN Secretary-General.

‘We are facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system,’ he wrote. ‘The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region. Such an outcome must be avoided at all cost’.

His comments were immediately criticized by the Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who called Guterres' tenure a "danger to world peace".

As it stands, Israel is attacking targets in both northern and southern Gaza.