Palestinians converge for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Dec 21, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

UN/JERUSALEM/GAZA/BEIRUT/DAMASCUS/TEHRAN/AMMAN - The United Nations on Thursday expressed concern over the Israeli order for the evacuation of civilians in southern Gaza as Israel announced it will continue military operations in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli military on Wednesday designated a new area covering about 20 percent of central and south of Khan Younis city for immediate evacuation. Prior to the onset of the hostilities, the area was home to about 111,000 people. The area also includes 32 shelters that accommodated more than 141,000 displaced men, women and children, the vast majority of whom were previously displaced from northern Gaza, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Despite ongoing ceasefire talks, the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated on Thursday, with heavy explosions heard and huge black plumes in Gaza visible from the Israeli side of the fence during the day

He quoted the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as saying that access to evacuation information on Khan Younis and other key information is impaired by interruptions in telecommunications and the lack of electricity. Telecommunications are still down in most of Gaza for the eighth day in a row.

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Dujarric stressed that no area in Gaza is safe.

Currently, intense fighting, the lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications severely restrict access to loading points and trucks, as well as the ability to deliver, prioritize, plan and coordinate critical operations -- with civilians bearing the brunt of the suffering that is going on, said the spokesman.

The most helpful thing for the delivery of humanitarian aid in a sustained high volume way would be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, he said.

The United Nations is focused on trying to get as much aid in as possible, as quickly as possible, he said. "We are working in a highly dangerous situation. More than 135 of our colleagues have paid (with) their lives. We're working in a highly complicated system where different verifications have to go in."

A picture taken in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on Dec 21, 2023, shows Israeli army tanks rolling amid continuing battles between Israel and Hamas. (PHOTO / AFP)

Israel vows to continue fighting

Despite ongoing ceasefire talks, the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated on Thursday, with heavy explosions heard and huge black plumes in Gaza visible from the Israeli side of the fence during the day.

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At night, huge orange flashes were seen in Gaza City as the Israeli army said it destroyed a key network of tunnels under the neighborhood of Rimal.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing that over the past day, Israeli forces "have operated from the air, sea, and land throughout the Gaza Strip."

He said that since the beginning of the war on Oct 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 2,000 militants.

In the early afternoon, Hamas militants fired about 30 rockets at the Israeli city Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel, indicating the group's retained capability despite the 76-day Israeli relentless strikes.

A senior Israeli official told reporters in a briefing that Israeli negotiators have met with Qatari mediators, expressing their "willingness to reach a new deal."

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a humanitarian organization backed by the United Nations, issued a new report on Thursday, warning that Gaza's entire 2.3 million population is at risk of famine due to the shortage of food caused by the Israeli siege

Israel insists on continuing the previous ceasefire deal, focusing on the release of 17 women and children who were supposed to be freed during the truce in late November, according to the official.

READ MORE: Peace in Gaza benefits all, expert says

In the meantime, an unnamed Palestinian source told Xinhua that Israel proposed the release of around 40 Israeli hostages through Qatari and Egyptian mediators in exchange for a one-week ceasefire.

Later, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that Israel is considering "improving" its offer to Hamas by extending the proposed ceasefire period to two weeks.

The spokesman of Hamas' military wing, Abu Ubaida, declared in a statement that the hostages held by the group would be released only if Israel "stops the aggression and the war."

This statement echoed an earlier announcement by Osama Hamdan, a Hamas politburo member, who asserted that "all parties" in the talks had been informed that there would be "no negotiation" for hostage release unless Israel ends its strikes in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected these statements, vowing that Israel "will not stop the war until we achieve all of its goals: Completing the elimination of Hamas and releasing all of our hostages."

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Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a humanitarian organization backed by the United Nations, issued a new report on Thursday, warning that Gaza's entire 2.3 million population is at risk of famine due to the shortage of food caused by the Israeli siege.

The risk of famine "is increasing each day that the current situation of intense hostilities and restricted humanitarian access persists or worsens," the report read.

The World Health Organization stated that there are no fully functioning hospitals left in Gaza. Due to Israeli strikes, 23 hospitals in Gaza are entirely non-functional, nine are partially functioning, and four are operating at minimum capacity, according to the WHO.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry has said that the Palestinian death toll from the relentless Israeli bombardments had reached 20,000, while the death toll in Israel has reached about 1,300, most of them killed in the initial Hamas attack on Oct 7, according to official Israeli figures. 

Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment over Lebanon's southern town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on Dec 21, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

3 more killed in Lebanon

Two Hezbollah members and a civilian were killed, while two other civilians were wounded in Israeli attacks on Thursday in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

A war monitor on Thursday reported that pro-Iran militias have launched 60 attacks on American bases in Syria since Oct 19 in retaliation for the United States' backing of Israel

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the casualties were caused by Israeli artillery shelling and air raids on at least 21 border villages and towns in southern Lebanon.

READ MORE: Gaza says Israeli army turns hospital into 'military barracks'

Hezbollah said its fighters also carried out attacks against several Israeli barracks and sites in northern Israel.

The Lebanon-Israel border has witnessed increased tension since Oct 8 after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets toward Israel in support of the Hamas attack on Israel the previous day, prompting Israel to respond by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have so far killed 170 people on the Lebanese side, including 119 Hezbollah members and 32 civilians, according to Lebanese security sources.

Meanwhile, a war monitor on Thursday reported that pro-Iran militias have launched 60 attacks on American bases in Syria since Oct 19 in retaliation for the United States' backing of Israel.

The attacks, which included rocket shells and drone strikes, have been targeting the US bases in eastern Syria rather than the energy fields that some US bases were built on, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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The Britain-based watchdog group said the attacks had recently escalated as the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip continued, noting that the US forces are tight-lipped about their losses.

In previous reports, the observatory noted that these attacks were launched from inside the Iraqi territories and targeted US bases in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour near the Iraqi border.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday held a phone call with Kuwait's new Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, highlighting the necessity to uphold the rights of the Palestinians. The Iranian president stressed that Iran was ready to cooperate with other countries to safeguard the rights of the Palestinians.

ALSO READ: China urges US to stop blocking UN resolutions on Gaza ceasefire

While in Jordan, King Abdullah II met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. The king urged the global community to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the protection of civilians, noting that the continuation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza would have disastrous repercussions on the entire region.