Israel battles Hamas in south Gaza, UN pushes for ceasefire to avert human catastrophe

Israeli tanks sought to push further west in their battle against Hamas in and around Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip's main city, as UN officials reiterated calls for a ceasefire to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

The fighting in Khan Younis comes as Israel refocuses its more than two-month war effort on the south after pounding northern Gaza and driving the majority of the Palestinian enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes.

Residents said fighters were preventing Israeli tanks moving further west through the city and there were also fierce clashes in parts of northern Gaza, where Israel had said its tasks were largely complete.

Israelis fled to shelters after new warnings of rocket fire from Gaza, including in Tel Aviv. The armed wing of Hamas said it was bombarding the city in response to "the Zionist massacres against civilians.”

In Jabalia in northern Gaza, Palestinians ran to escape smoke bombs fired near tents and other homes.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a new call on X, formerly Twitter, for Gaza residents to evacuate Gaza City and other areas of the north as well as Khan Younis in the south.

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Amid reports of a "catastrophic" health situation in Gaza from the World Health Organization, Palestinian activists called for a global strike on Monday as part of a coordinated effort to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.

"It is time - worldwide total strike," urged one call. But it was unclear whether the effort would catch on globally or have an impact on Israel's war plans.

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly is likely to vote on a draft resolution demanding a ceasefire, diplomats said. On Friday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council proposal demanding an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons.

The U.S. vote was criticized by Arab foreign ministers at an international conference in Doha, the capital of Qatar, which played a key role in negotiating the ceasefire late last month.

Qatar, where Hamas's top leadership is based, said it was still working on a new truce like the week-long ceasefire it helped mediate last month that saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and humanitarian aid.

But Israel's relentless bombardment was "narrowing the window" for success, said Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

UN to push for ceasefire

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he would "not give up" appealing for a ceasefire.

"I urged the Security Council to press to avert a humanitarian catastrophe and I reiterated my appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared," Guterres said. "Regrettably, the Security Council failed to do it, but that does not make it less necessary." 

The fighting began on October 7 when Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and taking 240 hostages. In response, Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007. 

According to Gaza health authorities, around 18,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with 49,500 injured. About 100 of the Israeli hostages were freed during a week-long truce that ended on December 1.

The UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced from their homes - roughly half of them children.

Israel had urged people to seek refuge in the south, but after expanding the war to include southern targets, there are few safe places for civilians to go.

"A unilateral declaration by an occupying power that patches of land where there is no infrastructure, food, water, health care, or hygiene are 'safe zones' does not mean they are safe," she said.

Jordan's foreign minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of "a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people" and pushing them to leave the territory.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy called the accusation "outrageous and false," saying his country was defending itself "from the monsters who perpetrated the October 7 massacre" and bringing them to justice.

U.S. aware of 'terrible human toll"

Residents of Khan Younis said tanks had reached the city's main north-south road. Warplanes were attacking an area to the west. 

Guterres said the city, with a population of around 626,000, could be on the verge of collapse with the possibility of epidemic diseases engulfing it.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken again rejected a ceasefire.

"With Hamas still alive, still intact and... with the stated intent of repeating October 7 again and again and again, that would simply perpetuate the problem," he told ABC News. But Blinken also said the United States was "deeply, deeply aware of the terrible human toll that this conflict is taking on innocent men, women and children."

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that dozens of Hamas fighters had surrendered. Hamas rebutted the claim and said it had destroyed 180 Israeli military vehicles. It did not provide evidence, however.

Hospitals in Gaza were at maximum capacity with dead and injured Palestinians, according to the main Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

While the world's attention has been riveted on the military action in the Gaza Strip, worries of the war spreading were further fed by fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which is backed by Iran.

Israeli strikes near Damascus killed two Hezbollah fighters and two Syrians working with the Lebanese group, a war monitor said, the latest such attack.

Two Hezbollah sites in the Sayyida Zeinab district south of the capital and "a radar battalion" near the airport were targeted, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syria's army also reported it had shot down Israeli missiles fired towards Damascus from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Other missiles not intercepted caused some damage, the army said in a statement. The Israeli army declined to comment. 

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