Palestinians flee to overcrowded refuges as Israel expands offensive in Gaza

New Delhi: A Palestinian town with a typical population around 75,000 has been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge as Israel expands its ground offensive across Gaza.

Some of the new arrivals Wednesday at Deir al-Balah travelled by foot or rode donkey carts loaded with belongings. While many crowded onto streets around the town's main hospital, others set up tents on sidewalks.

Palestinian health officials said dozens were killed in Israel's heavy strikes across the centre and south of the territory.

The UN humanitarian office says the scale and intensity of ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in most areas of Gaza and their devastating impact is impeding aid deliveries.

"Operational challenges due to insecurity, blocked roads and a scarcity of fuel are also hampering the humanitarian response," the office, known as OCHA, said in a statement Wednesday.

OCHA warned that telecommunications blackouts are making communications and internet service unreliable and also impacting humanitarian deliveries.

More than 20,900 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants among the dead.

About 1,200 people were killed after Hamas raided southern Israel on October 7, with around 240 people taken hostage. Israel says it aims to free the more than 100 hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza.