ISRAEL MOUNTS GROUND OFFENSIVE IN GAZA CITY

ISRAEL has launched a ground offensive to take Gaza City amid warnings it will heap devastation on war-battered civilians who have to flee yet again.

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

Declaring Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone", Israel says it is a Hamas stronghold, and is most likely where remaining Israeli hostages are kept.

But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attack a "new and dangerous phase" in the conflict that will have "devastating consequences".

As famine also takes hold, he said the onslaught would force hundreds of thousands of traumatised and exhausted civilians to flee their places of shelter once more.