5 things to know as war in Gaza shifts south 

Israel this week expanded the scope of its military operations in Gaza to include the south of the territory, where nearly 2 million Palestinian civilians are sheltering.  

Israeli forces are carrying out airstrikes in the southern city of Khan Younis and are marching south as they seek to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

“Until we achieve victory, the war continues,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Saturday address.

Here’s everything you need to know as fighting rages across Gaza. 

Civilians are running out of places to evacuate

Some 1.7 million Palestinian civilians have fled to southern Gaza, heeding Israel’s orders to evacuate the north when it began a ground invasion of the coastal territory last month. 

Now, Israel says its forces must go south, too, to dismantle Hamas. Israel has not created any specific zones that would keep civilians safe, though it has asked civilians to evacuate certain areas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has begun ordering civilians to flee the city of Khan Younis. 

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said during a rare visit to Gaza that a majority of the civilians she met with had been displaced several times already. 

“We are facing a situation here that will not be healed by sending in more trucks,” she said, referring to humanitarian aid convoys. “We need to provide protection to the civilians in Gaza.” 

As the war moves south, the U.S. has publicly warned Israel to mitigate civilian harm, telling reporters last week the White House wants designated safe zones for civilians. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a Saturday speech that Israel must protect civilians in the next phase of the war, calling it a “strategic imperative” as they fight “in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth.” 

“In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population,” Austin said. “And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.” 

Israel faces challenge in the south 

Israel will have to contend with a dense, urban environment in the south, especially in the city of Khan Younis, where it’s believed Hamas officials are holed up.

That will pose a difficult challenge for infantry as soldiers fight block by block and contend with guerilla warfare tactics and explosive traps. 

Hamas forces may also be hiding out among the large civilian population packed into the southern region of Gaza. 

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a Monday press briefing that Israeli forces are engaged in tough “close-quarter fighting” across Gaza. 

“But I want to emphasize this — our forces are determined to kill the terrorists, to win every battle and to continue to do so in every place that will be required,” Hagari said. 

Main Hamas force is intact, as group appears prepared for long fight 

While Israel’s military campaign has struck hundreds of Hamas targets, according to the IDF, the blow to the militant group appears to be limited.

More than 15,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began, according to a Monday update from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas. The health officials estimate 70 percent of the deaths so far have been women and children. 

The United Nations estimated last month that about two-thirds of the deaths have been women and children. 

Before the war, Hamas had a fighting force of around 30,000 soldiers, so its forces are likely intact based on the public death counts. And Yahya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, is presumed to be somewhere underground in Gaza, possibly in the south, along with other leading officials of the group.

Hamas is expected to have prepared for a long insurgency operation against Israel, and analysts say the war could stretch on for months.

Following a weeklong truce, Hamas has likely built up its defenses, said Alex Plitsas, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs N7 initiative. 

“To date, Hamas has not put up significant resistance, but it is possible that the group has used the temporary pause to prepare defensive positions throughout Gaza to fight against Israeli forces,” he wrote in an analysis. 

And Plitsas assessed that operations in the south would be difficult because of the civilians there, which “could limit Israel’s ability to use air power and may complicate ground operations.” 

Fighting comes after hostage deal broke down 

Israel and Hamas had reached a temporary truce for a week before the fighting resumed Friday.  

During that truce, both sides exchanged hostages and prisoners, and wartime humanitarian aid was entering Gaza. More than 100 hostages held by Hamas were released, while Israel freed more than 200 Palestinians from prison. 

Hamas took more than 240 hostages when it invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7 in addition to killing 1,200 people in the attack. 

But the truce expired Friday after a disagreement about the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. 

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby pinned the blame on Hamas, accusing the group of failing to commit to the release of more women and children, which the U.S. and Israel say they know are still in Gaza. 

“So unfortunately, the negotiations have stopped,” Kirby told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “That said, what hasn’t stopped is our own involvement, trying to get those back on track and trying to discuss with those partners and all those interlocutors, see if we can’t get it back in place.” 

Israel took control of northern Gaza at a cost 

After moving infantry and armor into northern Gaza in late October, Israeli forces swept through the region and took Gaza City, considered the stronghold of Hamas, without much resistance. 

Analysts, however, expect that Hamas is still spread out in the north, and Israel has yet to sweep the whole region. 

The war has already devastated the north, reducing many of the buildings and infrastructure to rubble and damaging health facilities, where thousands of wounded people are struggling to get care. 

The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry said emergency health care workers are unable to handle the sheer number of wounded people after the damaging of 56 health institutions, 20 hospitals and 46 primary care centers, along with ambulances and personnel losses. 

Humanitarian groups have also said the damage to health care sites has been enormous.  

Avril Benoît, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders, said in a Monday letter to President Biden that four of her staff have been killed and several health care sites struck by shelling.

She added that “medics in Gaza are exhausted and overwhelmed by the scale of human suffering they experience every day.” 

“The US government must exert genuine pressure, both publicly and in private,” Benoît wrote, ”to ensure Israel protects civilian lives and infrastructure.”