The UN has reported that as Israeli forces close in on refugee camps, an estimated 150,000 Palestinians are being forced to flee parts of central Gaza.
Tanks were said to have arrived at the eastern edges of the Bureij camp, according to witnesses and the armed wing of Hamas.
The Israeli military has extended its ground offensive to include the adjacent camps of Nuseirat and Maghazi, as well as Bureij.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, there were also more fatalities in Gaza on Thursday due to Israeli shelling.
Egypt has acknowledged that it has presented a three-pronged cease-fire proposal to end the conflict.
A Hamas delegation is said to have arrived in Cairo to give its response to the plan.
More than 21,300 people have been killed in Gaza mostly children and women during 11 weeks of fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel has said its campaign in Gaza is likely to last for months, vowing to dismantle Hamas across the territory and prevent a repeat of its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.
The two sides have exchanged fire almost daily across the border. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen warned Wednesday that “all options are on the table” if Hezbollah does not withdraw from the border area, as called for under a 2006 U.N. cease-fire.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has already been one of the most devastating military campaigns in recent history. More than 21,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
