With two small children and an infant in tow on Saturday, displaced Gazan Reem Abu Tair was on her way out of Khan Younis, a part of southern Gaza that has become the focus of Israel’s ground offensive against Hamas.

While her children shiver in the cold, she tells Reuters she doesn’t know a safe place to take them.

"We managed to save our lives, we escaped bombings and the destruction that is surrounding us only to end up in the cold. So, if a child does not die from the bombing, he will die from the cold. I wish these pictures would reach everyone around the world, so this issue will be dealt with, we do not have a soul anymore.”

Residents reported heavy aerial and tank fire across Khan Younis on Saturday, and around two main hospitals there...

as Israel presses ahead with its campaign against Hamas in the face of a World Court order on Friday to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians.

The Israeli army on Saturday released aerial footage it says shows strikes on Hamas infrastructure, though Reuters was not able to independently verify the location nor date of the footage.

The city’s Nasser Hospital was flooded with injured people and those seeking refuge on Friday after Israel tanks battered the area around the facility.

The WHO said 350 patients and upwards of 5,000 displaced people were seeking shelter there, with a similar situation at the city’s other main still-functioning hospital, Al-Amal.

The Israeli bombardment is compromising healthcare and endangering the lives of doctors, patients and displaced people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Israel says Hamas operates in and around medical facilities, an allegation the group denies.

The Israeli military says it is in contact with hospital directors and medical staff by phone and on the ground to make sure that they are running and accessible.

Hamas said its fighters fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli tank in southwest Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said it killed at least 11 gunmen who were engaging with soldiers in the area.

Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Finland on Saturday became the latest countries to pause funding for the United Nations' refugee agency for Palestinians, or UNRWA, following allegations that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

On Friday, UNRWA had severed ties with and opened an investigation into those staff members.

The United States, Australia and Canada had already paused funding to the aid agency, a critical source of support for people in Gaza, after the allegations by Israel.

Israel launched its air, sea and land offensive in Gaza after militants from Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7; killing 1,200 people and abducting 253.

More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 65,000 wounded, according to Gaza health authorities.

The majority of the enclave's 2.3 million population has been displaced.

In Rafah, where over half of Gaza's people are now taking cover in shelters and tents, the Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli air strike killed three people in a house.

It was not immediately clear who the casualties were and there was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israelis lay siege to Khan Younis; U.N. agency fires staffers over Oct. 7 allegations

A Palestinian youth stands amid damage to his home caused by Israeli air strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Israeli forces said they have inflicted a "large number" of casualties on Hamas fighter this week as they advance in the city of Khan Younis.

 Israel ramped up a major offensive against Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Saturday as a United Nations agency announced it has fired staffers over their alleged involvement in Hamas' Oct. 7 terror assault.

The Israel Defense Forces are conducting high-intensity military operations in Khan Younis to root out Hamas in an area where many hostages are thought to be kept, resulting in a "large number" of militants killed in fighting on Saturday, military sources told the Times Of Israel.

More than 100 Hamas fighters have died in the advance in the city, during which IDF troops claimed to have found weapons at the home of an unnamed associate of Hamas leader Yahyah Sinwar, local media reported.

The raid occurred a day after officials in the United States and several other nations ceased funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza due to potential terrorist activities by several employees.

The UNRWA fired a dozen workers whom Israeli officials accused of participating in the Oct. 7 surprise attack carried out by Hamas in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 more were kidnapped.

"To protect the Agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement issued Friday.

"Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution," he said.

UNRWA officials on Wednesday reported "mass casualties" at its complex in Khan Younis after being shelled by Israeli forces.

IDF officials said one of its tanks fired at militants aiming anti-tank devices from the UNRWA complex.

More Palestinians displaced as Israel battles Hamas in south Gaza

Medical facilities are at risk of collapse in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city now at the focus of Israel's offensive, the Gaza Health Ministry warned on Sunday, as fighting raged across the Palestinian enclave.

Residents said Israeli planes and tanks also pounded areas in Gaza City to the north, where Israel has been pulling out troops. The fighting could be heard in the nearby towns of Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, near to Gaza City.

Israel's military said it was engaged in "intensive battles" in Khan Younis, where it said troops "eliminated terrorists and located large quantities of weapons".

The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters clashed with Israeli troops in several areas across the enclave overnight. Hamas' armed wing said its fighters destroyed two Israeli tanks in Khan Younis.

The latest fighting came as U.N. officials and aid groups urged countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians, a vital source of aid in Gaza. At least nine countries have paused funding following allegations by Israel that a dozen of UNRWA's staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said 165 Palestinians were killed and 290 wounded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total killed in Israeli strikes since the war began to 26,422. Officials in the Hamas-ruled territory do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count.

Israel says it has lost 220 soldiers in the ground offensive and has killed 9,000 Gaza fighters, a figure that Hamas has dismissed.

One strike on a house in a suburb of Gaza City killed eight people, health officials said.

As night fell, Palestinian health officials said the number of Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on a multi-floor house in the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza rose to 20. The Israeli military said they were checking the report.

In western Gaza City, residents said Israel naval boats opened fire on beachfront areas, but no injuries were reported. In other parts of the enclave, residents reported intensified fighting amid heavier Israeli aerial attacks.

Israel launched a war it says aims to eliminate Hamas after the militants' unprecedented cross-border assault, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 abducted, according to Israeli officials.

The Israeli military declared a closed military zone at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza after right-wing demonstrators and some families of hostages tried to stop aid from going into the enclave, saying it was merely helping Hamas.

Protests in Israel demanding that the government do more to secure the hostages' release have been spreading, as little progress has been seen in ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar since November amid disputes between Israel and Hamas.

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM FAILURE

Palestinian medics and residents said Israel continued to bomb areas around the two main hospitals in Khan Younis, hindering efforts by rescue teams to respond to desperate calls from people caught in the Israeli bombardment.

“There is a complete failure of the healthcare system at Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals," said Qidra.

Israel says it is taking steps to keep hospitals running and minimise civilian casualties. It accuses Hamas of operating in densely populated areas, including around hospitals, and using civilians as human shields and has released photos and videos supporting this allegation, which the Islamist group denies.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that medical teams at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis would be unable to perform surgeries because oxygen supplies were depleted.

More families were displaced from Khan Younis on Sunday. Some people took dirt roads to get closer to the city of Rafah along the border with Egypt or Deir Al-Balah to the north. Others headed west to an area called Al-Mawasi where residents described being crammed into a small area.

"It is as crowded as it can get," said electrician Abu Raouf, a father of four. "People have lost their ability to think, their ability to feel, they are moving like robots, it is just a matter of time before Israel sends tanks into here as well, there is no place safe."

Reem Abu Tair left Khan Younis in the cold with three children, one of them an infant.

"We managed to save our lives, we escaped bombings and the destruction that is surrounding us only to end up in the cold. So, if a child does not die from the bombing, he will die from the cold,” Abu Tair said.