Israel has intensified its bombardment in and around Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, as ambulances and private cars raced to a local hospital carrying those wounded in this new phase of the war in the enclave.

Under pressure from the United States to prevent further mass casualties, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-quarters of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.

At the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, ambulances brought dozens of injured people in throughout the night into early on Tuesday morning. At one point, a car pulled up and a man emerged carrying a young boy in a bloodied shirt whose hand had been blown off.

Israel has ordered people out of nearly two dozen neighbourhoods instead of the entire region, as it did in the north. But with most of Gaza’s population already packed into the south, cramming into United Nations shelters and homes, there are few places left to go. Israel has barred people who fled the north earlier in the war from returning.

Palestinians say that as Israel continues to attack across the besieged territory, there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return.