Israeli forces battled Palestinian Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip's two largest cities on Monday, with civilians still sheltering along the front lines after being displaced by Israel's fierce and indiscriminate bombardment of the besieged territory.
Residents said there was heavy fighting in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli ground forces opened a new line of attack last week, and battles were still underway in parts of Gaza City and the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes have killed scores of people and reduced large areas to rubble.
With very little aid allowed in since Israel imposed a complete siege on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians face severe shortages of food, water and other basic goods. Close to 18,000 people have been killed in Israel's indiscriminate strikes, most of them women and children.
Some observers worry that Palestinians will be forced out of Gaza altogether in a repeat of the 1948 Nakba - when Zionist militias expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land during the creation of Israel.
At the same time, it's not clear when or if Palestinians would be allowed to return to the north of the Gaza Strip — home to some 1.2 million before the war — where entire neighborhoods have been flattened by Israel's bombs.
The fighting in and around Khan Younis threatens to bring similar destruction to the south, and has already pushed tens of thousands toward the town of Rafah and other areas along the border with Egypt.
It has also hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid to most of Gaza, putting even more pressure on people to head south.