Close to 110,000 Palestinian civilians have fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah since Monday as Israeli strikes continue to intensify, a United Nations official reported Friday.
Armed Palestinian groups allegedly said they were targeting Israeli troops to the east, and Israel's military forces are stating their ground forces are conducting "targeted activity" in eastern Rafah.
Amid the heightening humanitarian crisis, the UN has warned that food and fuel are running out due to the closure of essential crossings that allow aid into the besieged territory.
Israeli Defense Forces seized control over the Rafah crossing along the Egyptian border, effectively shutting it down at the start of their operation.
The UN has repeatedly cautioned against the dangerous obstacles its staff and lorries would face in order to reach the reopened Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, according to the BBC.
The advancement comes on the heels of a threat made by the U.S. president to stop supplying a number of weapons should it launch a major assault on "population centers" in Rafah.
The Israeli Prime Minister has rejected the threat, declaring Israel could "stand alone" if necessary.
The country continues to insist that after seven months of war in Gaza, victory will not be achieved without conquering the city and annihilating the remainder of the Hamas brigade.
However, with over a million displaced Palestinians sheltering there, the UN as well as Western powers have cautioned against a full-fledged assault that would lead to more mass civilian casualties and deepen what is already deemed a humanitarian catastrophe.
Residents and aid workers told the media outlet that the sound of artillery and air strikes in Rafah was nonstop.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), relayed to the BBC,
"The building is shaking on a frequent basis. There is this constant buzzing of drones."
"The fear and nervousness that people [in Rafah] have had has now become terror."
Palestinian media reported two people killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday in the al-Jneinah neighborhood, while another three people were reportedly killed in an airstrike in the Brazil neighborhood, close to the Egyptian border.
The IDF said three of its soldiers were moderately wounded as a result of a booby-trapped explosion in a tunnel east of Rafah underneath three Israeli military vehicles.
At least five Palestinians were killed following an Israeli airstrike that struck a family's home in the western Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, including three children, one of whom was a one-year-old infant.
Dr. Jamal al-Hams, director of the Kuwaiti Specialist Hospital in Central Rafah and only one of two partially functioning hospitals in the city, told BBC Arabic that it did not have the diagnostic capabilities to treat patients properly, adding:
"Even the X-ray machine is disabled due to Israeli shelling, and there are no spare parts for it."
The situation has only worsened by the closure of the al-Najjar hospital in the city's east on Wednesday after an evacuation order amid nearby fighting.
Al-Hams went on to tell BBC Arabic on Thursday that the hospital was currently facing a surge in casualties, many of which were described as "unusual injuries caused by unusual weapons."
Hospitals in southern Gaza, including those outside Rafah, only have three days left before running out of fuel, warned the World Health Organization.
President Joe Biden's remarks in regard to the halt of any further weapons supply from the U.S. in the event of a full-scale assault on Rafah left many Israelis angry with their closest and most supportive ally.
On Thursday, Israel's far-right National Security Minister condemned the remarks, posting on social media that "Hamas loves Biden."
Netanyahu also released a video in which he reminded Israelis that their country survived an arms embargo in the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war, resulting in the creation of a Jewish state.
"Today we are much stronger," he said.
"If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails."
