The Israeli army said troops reached the southernmost point of their ground invasion of
Gaza so far on Thursday as they intensified operations across the south of the Palestinian territory.
As fears rise that the Israel-Hamas war will escalate, tensions flared in the wider region following Pakistani strikes in Iran and new US military action targeting Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, reports AFP.
In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, the army said its Givati Brigade was "fighting in the southernmost area that ground troops have operated in so far".
"The soldiers eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and with the assistance of tank fire and air support," it said.
Soldiers raided the "Martyr's Outpost" of Hamas's Khan Yunis brigade and the offices of its commanders, seizing a weapons cache including AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, it added.
Live footage from AFPTV showed smoke rising over central-southern Gaza in the afternoon.\
Gaza's Hamas authorities reported 93 deaths overnight, including 16 in a strike on a house in the southern city of Rafah, where many people have fled.
Umm Walid al-Zamli said she lost her children and her house.
"The oldest was a second-grade girl," she said in a choked voice. "What did they do wrong?"
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said the army is hitting Khan Yunis particularly hard to dismantle the Hamas leadership, which the military says has already been achieved in northern Gaza.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
