In the early hours of Thursday, the eastern districts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza found themselves under one of the most intense campaigns of bombardment seen in recent weeks. Artillery from positions along the border barraged areas such as Ma’an, Sheikh Nasser and Jorat al-Lout, as war-planes and drones unleashed strikes across neighbourhoods already struggling under months of siege. Local medics and civil-defence teams described the scene as chaotic, persistent explosions, rubble-strewn roads and blocked access for rescue personnel.

By dawn, heavy machinery and armoured vehicles were seen flattening whole blocks of homes and farmland in the city’s eastern and south-eastern fringes. Residents reported virtually entire residential enclaves wiped out overnight, a campaign seemingly designed not only to defeat a foe but to render life untenable for those who remain. The main hospital in the city, Nasser Hospital, confirmed it was treating dozens of wounded civilians, many of them women and children, while large sections of the city were plunged into darkness after strikes damaged power and water infrastructure.

Humanitarian observers warned that the city, already packed with tens of thousands of displaced persons from the north of the territory, now teeters on the brink of collapse. “There is no safe place left,” one field worker said, describing the destruction, blockade of aid and the atmosphere of fear that now pervades daily life. Under these conditions, the prospect of relief reaching the most vulnerable seems more remote than ever.