Israeli troops have advanced deeper into Rafah, eyewitnesses in Gaza's overcrowded southernmost city said on Tuesday, as Israel seems set to invade the last remaining Hamas stronghold after weeks of threats.
Israeli tanks were said to have moved from the east of the city into neighbourhoods further west including the al-Janina district.
The Israeli army did not initially comment on the reports.
Israel's allies, including its main backer the United States, have been warning Israel for weeks against a ground offensive into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had been sheltering from fighting elsewhere in the coastal strip.
Almost 450,000 people have left the city since Israel began advancing on the city's eastern outskirts last week, according to the UN.
"Empty streets in Rafah as families continue to flee in search of safety," the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) wrote on X on Tuesday.
"People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope."
The Israeli army advanced on Rafah from the east just over a week ago and has since also taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt.
Israel is exerting military pressure on Hamas to secure the release of hostages taken at the start of the Gaza war last October. It also wants to dismantle any remaining Hamas battalions in Gaza.
Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip continued on Tuesday, with Palestinian eyewitnesses reporting continuous shelling in the north, south and centre of the coastal strip.
The military wing of Hamas reported that it had repeatedly attacked Israeli troops at the Rafah crossing and hit a troop carrier near the city.
In addition, its fighters had attacked an Israeli troop transport in Rafah, according to the military wing.
Rescue helicopters had landed in the al-Salam neighbourhood to evacuate the wounded. This neighbourhood is also located deeper inside the city.
The Israeli army said that its forces had eliminated several cells of armed fighters in close combat at the Rafah border crossing.
The operation in the Jabalia refugee neighbourhood in the north of the Gaza Strip was also expanded, according to the army.
Some 35,173 Palestinians have been killed and more than 79,000 others injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza.
The figure, which is impossible to verify independently, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
Negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the war, meanwhile, are now at a stalemate, having suffered a setback due to the Israeli military operation in Rafah, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said on Tuesday.
"Right now, we are in the status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward a little bit," he told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
Israel deems Rafah the last stronghold of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which killed hundreds of civilians in Israel in last year's October 7 attacks.
Qatar, together with Egypt and the United States, has been trying to negotiate a truce deal in the ongoing conflict.
Mohammed said there has been "a fundamental difference" between the two parties, as one wants to end the war before releasing the remaining hostages, while the other party wants the hostages while continuing the war.
"If those two elements align, I believe we can have a deal in a matter of days," he added.
"There is no clarity on how to stop the war from the Israeli side. I don't think they are considering this an option," he said. "And there is no clarity on what Gaza will look like after this."