Gaza City, August 23 (RHC)-- Israeli forces have pushed deeper into areas of central and southern Gaza, forcing displaced people to once again leave their areas.  Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes Thursday had killed at least 42 people across the enclave where the regime is cramming 1.7 million civilians into just one-tenth of the overall area.

In Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, tanks advanced further from the east and blocked some roads connecting the city with the nearby Khan Younis in the south, residents said. 

Israeli tanks have also advanced to the west, in al-Karara and Hamad areas of Khan Younis, forcing more displaced families to leave their shelters and tents.   Later in the day, five Palestinians were killed and several wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit people near a square in Khan Younis, health officials said.

The armed wing of Hamas said fighters ambushed an Israeli force in Rafah, killing and wounding several of them.

In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, a strike on a house killed 11 people, including children and women, according to the Civil Emergency Service.  Medics said another strike killed six people, including a local journalist, in a house in al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, while five others were killed in separate strikes in the south.

In Deir al-Balah, which houses about one million residents and displaced Palestinians, thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians left their areas that were previously designated as a “safe zone” after new Israeli evacuation orders were issued on Wednesday.

Some families slept on the roads, others on the beach after they failed to find space or shelter.  "Last night drones began firing towards the tents, we ducked down, for maybe hours, then the noise of tanks got louder as they advanced closer, so we decided to run," Reuters quoted Imad al-Ghalayeeni as saying by phone from Khan Younis.

"We are five families, 48 persons, we ran to the beach, some slept on the road, others slept onshore, just on the sand with no tents, no blankets or mattresses and you can imagine how terrified were the children and women," he added.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced multiple times since the start of the war. Even in areas designated safe zones, there have been regular reports of casualties from Israeli strikes.

In a hospital in the northern Gaza camp of Jabalia, health officials said they were forced to suspend several services in the facility, except for lifesaving treatment, after they ran out of fuel.

Israel's military onslaught has killed 40,265 Palestinians since October 7, Gaza's health ministry said Thursday, after 42 people were killed in the past 24 hours.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said the Israeli regime is cramming 1.7 million Palestinian civilians into just one-tenth of Gaza’s overall area.  “The Israeli occupation army is deliberately strangling 1.7 million Palestinian civilians, cramming them into a narrow area that does not exceed one-tenth of the total area of the Gaza Strip,” the GMO said in a statement.

The statement noted that people were forced to leave their homes “under the threat of death, bombing and internationally prohibited weapons.”  Forced displacement is “a crime against humanity,” the statement stressed.

According to the GMO, Israel has tightened the area it previously designated as the so-called “safe humanitarian zone” from 63 percent of Gaza in November to only 9.5 percent of the strip.

The Gaza City Governorate and the North Gaza Governorate where 700,000 Palestinian civilians are living are not considered “safe zones.”  The GMO held Israel and its key ally, the US, accountable for the “catastrophic” repercussions of the ongoing crime.

The Israeli atrocities continued unabated as US and Israeli delegations started a new round of meetings in Cairo aimed at resolving gaps in a truce proposal, Egyptian security sources said.

Egyptian and U.S. officials had met to seek compromises over plans for providing security on Egypt-Gaza border following a demand by Hamas for a withdrawal of the Israeli military.

The proposals were due to be presented to Israeli officials later on Thursday, with a Qatari delegation due to join on Friday, they added.   Ghalayeeni said there was growing disillusionment among Palestinians in Gaza about the ceasefire talks.

"These talks are time-wasting, and they aim to give Netanyahu the time he needs to continue what he is doing.  There is no place the tanks didn't enter, or bomb, and there is nowhere safe anymore," he said, referring to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.