Continued Israeli bombing and ground invasion in northern Gaza have caused an additional 200,000 people to flee south over the past 10 days, according to the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA).
The agency said Tuesday that only one hospital in the north was capable of treating patients. Some of the fighting is taking place around hospitals, where patients, newborns and doctors are stranded, without power and dwindling supplies.
Israel has ordered civilians to evacuate Gaza City and its northern environs, but the southern part of the besieged territory is not much safer. Israel carries out frequent air raids throughout the Gaza Strip, hitting what it considers Hamas targets but often killing women and children.
Dozens of people were killed and injured in the southern town of Khan Younis on Tuesday.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes since the start of the war, and U.N.-run shelters in the south are already severely overcrowded.