Israeli forces bombard refugee camps in central Gaza as UN appoints humanitarian co-ordinator

Israeli forces on Tuesday expanded their ground offensive into urban refugee camps in central Gaza after bombarding the crowded Palestinian communities and ordering residents to evacuate.

Gaza's main telecom provider announced another "complete interruption" of services in the besieged territory.

The military's announcement of the new battle zone threatens further destruction in a war that Israel's military says will last for "many months" as it vows to crush Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Israeli forces have been engaged in heavy urban fighting in northern Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, driving Palestinians into ever-smaller areas in search of refuge.

The United States said Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, was meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Despite international pressure for a ceasefire and U.S. calls for a reduction in civilian casualties, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said the military was deepening the fighting.

"We say to the Hamas terrorists: We see you and we will get to you," Netanyahu said.

Israel's offensive has been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. More than 20,900 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, whose count doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The agency said 240 people were killed over the past 24 hours.

The United Nations human rights office said the continued bombardment of central Gaza had claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives since Christmas Eve. The office noted that Israel had ordered some residents to move there.

Israel said it would no longer grant automatic visas to UN employees and accused the world body of being "complicit partners" in Hamas's tactics. Government spokesperson Eylon Levy said Israel would consider visa requests case by case. That could further limit aid efforts in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the UN announced on Tuesday that it had appointed Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands' outgoing deputy prime minister and finance minister, to oversee humanitarian relief shipments into Gaza starting Jan 8.

The appointment was part of a UN security council resolution adopted on Friday to boost humanitarian aid.

UN officials say a quarter of Gaza's population is starving under Israel's siege, which allows only a trickle of food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies into the territory. More than 85 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.

Residents of central Gaza on Tuesday described shelling and airstrikes shaking the Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps. The built-up towns house Palestinians driven from their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war, along with their descendants.