'Everything is shaking': Heavy fighting rocks Gaza's key southern city

BBC update:

HEAVY fighting is taking place across Gaza, with house-to-house fighting reported as Israeli forces intensify their ground operation.

Tanks are closing in on three areas - Khan Younis in the south and Jabalia and Shuja'iya in the north, where hundreds of thousands of civilians remain.

The UN says 600,000 people are under evacuation orders in southern Gaza but "there is nowhere to go" because shelters are so full.

A Palestinian journalist in Khan Younis told the BBC air strikes were happening every few minutes and "everything is shaking".

On Tuesday, Israel said its troops had reached "the heart of Khan Younis" - the largest southern city - on the "most intense" day of fighting in its ground operation.

Israel believes Hamas leaders could be hiding in the city - and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu insists the war can only be won with "crushing force".

The BBC has seen evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.

The Hamas attack which sparked this war killed 1,200 people, with around 240 others taken hostage.

Hamas officials in Gaza say at least 16,248 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory campaign, including about 7,000 children.