Video footage taken from a distance showed scattered civilians wandering through a ghost town full of tents with abandoned clothing hanging on lines as shots were fired and clouds of smoke rose into the sky.
Israel launched an offensive last week to capture Khan Younis, which it now says is the main base of Hamas militants responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli records became.
The latest phase of the war has spread fighting deep into the far corners of the enclave, which is now home to people fleeing bombings that have killed at least 25,295 people since October 7, Gaza health authorities said on Monday in an update.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are currently trapped in two cities: Deir alBalah and Rafah, north and south of Khan Younis, respectively. They are crammed into public buildings and huge camps of makeshift tents.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had lost all contact with its staff at AlAmal Hospital in Khan Younis, the rescue organization's main base, where Israeli tanks were parked outside.
Further west, the Israeli armored advance first reached the alMawasi district near the Mediterranean coast and isolated the AlKhair hospital and the parking lot near AlAqsa University, where thousands of displaced civilians were located.