I just keep asking myself how I'll die' Khan Younis residents in fear

As the battle against Hamas escalates in the south of Gaza, the Israeli military has launched a relentless bombardment of the city, which it claims is the organisation's command centre

- Peter Beaumont

For Almaza Owda, in Gaza's besieged second city of Khan Younis, thoughts have turned to how she might die. Last Thursday night, four days into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) assault on the southern city, Owda - who is living in a tent in the grounds of a UN school turned shelter - described her feelings.

"I keep asking myself how will I die?" Owda posted on social media. "Is it possible that shrapnel will hit me in the head and I die straight away? Maybe it penetrates the tent while I am sleeping and enters my body and I die from the bleeding. What might happen? There are a thousand scenarios in my head right now.

"The bombardment is very, very violent and intense nearby. The clashes never stop. [We're] cold, hungry, scared, stressed, tired. They bombarded around us with tank shells and all the shrapnel fell on us."

In the days since the ceasefire for hostages, deal broke down on 1 December and the IDF entered the third phase of its off ensive against Hamas, the war has swept over Khan Younis and its surrounding towns. It began early last week as an entire Israeli division launched its assault, surrounding and then entering the city.

While tens of thousands have been displaced further south towards Rafah – some for the second and third time in the war – those trapped inside Khan Younis have described desperate conditions in a city that was once home to 400,000.

With a number of neighbourhoods reduced to rubble by the Israeli military’s bombing even before the IDF launched the latest phase of its ground offensive, and with little fuel available, some residents have taken to using donkey carts to traverse the ruins.