According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, explosives at a UN facility in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, that was sheltering displaced residents had resulted in nine fatalities and numerous injuries.

According to UNRWA, two tank shells struck the 800 civilians who were seeking cover in the training college west of the city.

Israel has stated that its forces were conducting operations in the vicinity but has not commented on the explosions directly.

Its soldiers have surrounded the city and given the remaining residents orders to evacuate.

Thomas White, the director of UNRWA's Gaza operations, said on X, the former Twitter platform, that violence had damaged the Khan Younis Training Centre and that "mass casualties" had resulted.

 

A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis during Israeli bombardment on Thursday

 

After two days of fighting outside the center, during which UN officials were unable to reach the carpentry building, he informed CNN that the blasts occurred.

"We are in constant contact with the Israeli army, who have been giving assurances that people in protected facilities... are safe," he stated.

"The reality is that lives have been taken in and around these facilities in the last couple of days."

It occurs while intense combat rages throughout southern Gaza, especially in the crowded Khan Younis refugee camp, which is near the UNWRA training facility.

Israeli forces, according to the IDF, were "located around the camp, in the western part, and have begun to operate within it".

They were allegedly involved in a "divisional manoeuvre" to undermine "Hamas' military framework" in the western Khan Younis region.

The statement stated that Hamas "exploited" the heavily populated area, along with its shelters and hospitals, and that "the manoeuvre will continue against military targets that are in the area, outposts, infrastructure, and command and control centers."

More than 200 Palestinians have died in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is managed by Hamas. This fighting is among the worst that Israel has witnessed in its battle to eliminate Hamas.

Days after Hamas's October 7 bombings within Israel claimed more than 1,300 lives and left over 250 hostages, Israel began its invasion of Gaza.

Since then, more than 25,700 Palestinians have died in Gaza, according to its health ministry.