Israel's army claimed on Tuesday Hamas is at "its breaking point" as violent clashes push civilians into increasingly dire humanitarian conditions.

The Palestinian militant group reported fighting in central Gaza overnight, while the Wafa news agency detailed 12 dead and "dozens" injured in an Israeli air raid on Rafah.

Numerous Israeli strikes targeted Khan Yunis, the new epicentre of fighting, and Rafah on the Egyptian border, where tens of thousands of people fleeing the violence are now massing.

“Hamas is at its breaking point, the Israeli army is retaking its last bastions,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday evening.

“The fact that people are surrendering... accelerates our success. That is what we want: to move forward quickly,” army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said.

He added that Israeli forces were “intensifying” their operations in the south while consolidating positions in the north.

'Apocalyptic situation for civilians'

The situation facing civilians in Gaza is "apocalyptic", warned the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell on Monday.

He likened the scale of destruction in the Palestinian enclave as "more or less, even greater" than that suffered by Germany during the Second World War.

More than half of Gaza's homes have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to the UN. Some 1.9 million people have also been displaced, equivalent to 85% of the population.

“More and more people have not eaten for a day, two days, three days... People lack everything,” said UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the displaced in Rafah "are facing dire conditions, in overcrowded places, both inside and outside the shelters."

"We went from Gaza to Khan Yunis and then we were moved to Rafah. That night they bombed the house and destroyed it. They said Rafah would be a safe place. There is no safe place,” Oum Mohammed al-Jabri, 56, told AFP.

He lost seven of his 11 children in the war.

Calls for more humanitarian aid

The UN and humanitarian organisations have urged Israel to let more aid into the Gaza Strip, amid the desperate situation facing civilians.

Israeli authorities have said they want to control humanitarian trucks entering and leaving the territory.

The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 67th day on Tuesday, was triggered by Hamas' bloody 7 October attack on southern Israel.

Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the shock assault, during which around 240 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

A now-expired truce allowed the release of 100 hostages, with 137 remaining in captivity.

More than 18,200 people have been killed in Israeli bombings in Gaza, the vast majority of them women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. The Israeli army reported around a hundred deaths in its ranks.

2023 saw unprecedented violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, even before the latest outbreak of fighting.