🔴 Live: Israeli forces launch ground assault of Khan Younis in south Gaza, hospitals overwhelmed

An Israeli artillery unit operates at the border with Gaza, southern Israel, December 5, 2023. © Athit Perawongmetha, Reuters

Israel said Tuesday that its forces had entered “the heart” of Gaza’s second-largest city as intensified bombardment sent streams of ambulances and cars racing to hospitals with wounded and dead Palestinians. Military officials said they were engaged in the “most intense day” of battles since the ground offensive began more than five weeks ago. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments.

Summary: 

• Israeli troops have been engaged "in the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation" in Gaza, Israeli Defence Forces Southern Command General Yaron Finkelman said on Tuesday
• Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a press conference on Tuesday that there will be no negotiations or exchange of detainees until Israel's aggression in the Gaza Strip stops. "We hold (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu fully responsible for the lives of the Israeli hostages and for obstructing the completion of the exchange deal," he added.
• The Israeli military ordered Palestinians sheltering in Khan Younis to flee westwards towards the Mediterranean coast or further south towards Rafah near the Egyptian border. Gazans are running out of places to flee, warned aid groups, as the number of displaced residents mounted to 1.9 million, according to the UN. 
• France on Tuesday imposed asset freezes on Hamas's Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar.
• Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government. Since then, at least 16,248 people, including 7,112 children, have been killed in Israel's ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry said. At least 43,616 people have been injured and at least 7,600 people are missing, the Hamas media office said.

If the live blog does not appear immediately, please refresh the page.

Yesterday's key developments:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it had been forced to move supplies from a WHO medical warehouse in southern Gaza within a 24-hour period after a warning from the Israeli military that ground operations there would make it inaccessible.
• Israel denied ordering the evacuation of the warehouse.
• The White House said Monday that the US may establish a naval task force to escort commercial ships in the Red Sea, a day after three vessels were struck by missiles fired by Iranian-back Houthis in Yemen.
• Around two civilians have been killed for every dead Hamas fighter in the Gaza Strip, senior Israeli military officials admitted Monday.
• Hamas rejected on Monday accusations of rape and sexual violence by Palestinian militants during the group's October 7 attacks on Israel, dismissing them as "unfounded lies".

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”. The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies. 

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP) 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)