Intense fighting goes on as Israeli forces battle Hamas terrorists

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

An Israeli soldier reacts next to the grave of reservist Master Sgt. Gil Daniels during his funeral in Ashdod, Israel, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Daniels was killed in Gaza during an Israeli military ground offensive against the enclave's militant Hamas rulers. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Mazal, mother of Israeli reservist Master Sgt. Gil Daniels who was killed in Gaza touches his coffin to bid her son farewell before it is lowered into the grave during his funeral in Ashdod, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Daniels was killed in Gaza during an Israeli military ground offensive against the enclave's militant Hamas rulers. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces battled Hamas terrorists across Gaza on Wednesday in intense fighting.

Israel has vowed to fight on, saying it can no longer accept a Hamas military presence in Gaza after the Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attack that triggered the war. Hamas and other terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took captive some 240 men, women and children in that attack.

An estimated 138 hostages remain in Gaza after more than 100 were freed during a cease-fire last week. Their plight, and accounts of widespread rape and other atrocities committed during the terrorist rampage, have deepened Israel’s outrage and further galvanized support for the war.

Two months of Israeli bombardment and retaliatory ground assaults have killed more than 16,200 people in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said late Tuesday.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Its overall tally tracks with a figure released this week by the Israeli military, which said about 5,000 of the dead were terrorists.

The Israeli military says 88 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. It accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields when the terrorists operate in residential areas.

The fighting has prevented the distribution of food, water and medicine outside a sliver of southern Gaza.

For the past three days, aid distribution — mainly just supplies of flour and water — has been possible only in and around Rafah, on the border with Egypt, because of fighting and road closures by Israeli forces, the U.N.’s humanitarian aid office said.

It said tens of thousands of people have fled into Rafah from Khan Younis and other areas, overwhelming overcrowded shelters.

The U.N. also said that all telecom services have been shut down due to cuts in the main fiber routes.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that its troops were “in the heart” of Khan Younis after what it described as “the most intense day” of fighting since the start of the retaliatory ground operation five weeks ago, with heavy battles in the north as well.

The World Food Program said that the renewed fighting “will only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis that already threatens to overwhelm the civilian population.”

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporter Najib Jobain in Rafah, Gaza Strip contributed.