As Israel intensifies its offensive on Khan Younis, Palestinians in Gaza have spoken of their fears for the future.

Some of the heaviest battles in Gaza in recent days have been around the southern city.

Large parts of Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli air strikes.

Already displaced families have been fleeing the area of the Nasser hospital, the largest still functioning in the territory.

More than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its response to the 7 October Hamas attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people are displaced and fight daily to find food, drink and medicine.

Mohammed al-Khaldi, a father of two children displaced from Gaza City, told the BBC: "I lost my home, my shop and my source of income. I am no longer able to provide the simplest requirements of life for my children.

"I hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the massive destruction, but I do not absolve Hamas of responsibility for everything that happened," he said.

Hamas is the Palestinian group which has run Gaza since 2007. Its military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was thought to have about 30,000 members before the 7 October attack on Israel which killed around 1,300 people, most of them civilians, and saw 240 hostages taken back to Gaza.

"The worst thing that could happen is that we return to the previous situation, to a war every two or three years. The situation was difficult before the war and has become catastrophic now," Mr Khaldi said.

"The prices of goods have risen tenfold and most basic necessities are not available. I wish to die a thousand times every day when I look into my children's eyes and feel terrible helplessness because I am not able to feed them."

Most of the people I spoke to in Khan Younis said that the Israeli army was advancing towards the city centre.

They are working underground more than above ground, said Naji Mahmoud, one of the displaced people from Gaza City. Mr Mahmoud witnessed a major Israeli attack that took place in northern Gaza and left for Khan Younis during the week-long humanitarian truce at the end of November.

"We feel that the ground is shaking under us, something like an earthquake, and this is repeated almost every evening, the bombings seem to target the tunnels," he told the BBC. "When we were in Gaza [City], most of the attacks were from the air."

Manifestations of security breakdown are spreading throughout Gaza, and people are complaining about the phenomenon of theft and armed robbery.

A journalist who requested anonymity told the BBC: "I was returning from my job in Rafah late at night. I had three masked people stop me - they were carrying knives, and one of them was carrying a gun.

"They searched the car for anything valuable. One of them noticed that I was a journalist and allowed me to leave."

On the streets of Rafah masked police officers with guns in police cars can be seen, but people are complaining that they are not doing enough to deter merchants who monopolise goods and raise prices in an insane manner.

"I bought a bag of wheat marked Unrwa [the UN agency for Palestinian refugees] for $100 (£79; €92) - 10 times the original price. Why are the police not arresting the war traders who sell wheat most likely stolen from the UN aid agencies?" complained Mohammed Sheik Khalil.

"I can't find milk for my baby, my son has autism and has not received treatment for months. I cannot calm him down, and his condition has deteriorated after we made great strides in treating him before the war."

Hamas always worked according to emergency plans during the previous four wars, but this time it is different.

The Israeli army has destroyed the government system, killed a large number of security and police officers, and destroyed security headquarters and police stations, leaving ordinary crime uncontrolled.

Neveen Imadedin, a mother displaced from her home in Gaza City and now living in the southern town of Rafah, said: "We want the war to end but with a sustained long-term political solution. We want our state, not to return to the no-peace, no-war situation.

"Look what happened to us, thieves stole everything from my house, my clothes, home furniture and even solar panels."

"My house is located in the western part of Gaza City and was hit by four shells from the Israeli tanks that were controlling the neighbourhood.

"We are displaced here in Rafah and before that [we were] in Khan Younis. We have no money and no home, the unstoppable wars between Hamas and Israel have destroyed our lives."

A businessman called Mohammed agreed.

"We have lived under unjust rule for more than 16 years. Hamas imposed heavy taxes on us and now they have dragged us into a devastating war in which we lost our property, money and homes," he told the BBC.

"I used to live in a good house and work in trade. Now what will we do? The crossings are closed, the company has been destroyed, and the house is not fit for habitation due to the destruction.

"The worst thing that could happen to us is that we return under Hamas rule when the war ends."

'Inhumane' conditions in Gaza as residents rely on soup kitchens for food, have little or no water

As the Israel-Hamas war passed the 100-day mark this week, the Gaza Strip continues to be devastated amid the conflict, with women and children said to be the majority of casualties -- and those still in Gaza desperate for aid.

"I walk a kilometer [about three-quarters of a mile] on my feet, back and forth every day, every day, for my children to eat," Maryam Al-Dahdouh, a pregnant mother of four, told ABC News on Wednesday at a soup kitchen in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

"There is no water, so we walk miles to get a bottle of water for the children. Four children, I am pregnant, and there is no food at all. I am a pregnant mother. This pregnant mother has not eaten eggs, milk or anything healthy for three months until now," Al-Dahdouh said.

Since the Hamas terrorist group's surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, the death toll on both sides of the conflict has been rising. More than 24,000 people have been killed in Gaza and over 61,000 others injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others injured, according to the Israeli prime minister's office. Israeli officials say 526 Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed, including 193 since the ground operations in Gaza began.

The IDF has said it is only targeting Hamas and other militants in Gaza and alleges that Hamas deliberately shelters behind civilians, which the group denies.

More than 60% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed, the United Nations said in a press release Tuesday. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that about 85% of Gaza's population, or 1.9 million people, has been forced to flee their homes, many of them now living in tents in southern Gaza in very difficult conditions and reliant on the limited aid that is being delivered from Egypt.

"The sheer mass of civilians on the border is hard to fathom and the conditions they live in are inhumane," UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban told ABC News in a statement issued after he returned from Gaza on Thursday.

The U.N. warns that with so little aid reaching those who need it in Gaza, famine is becoming increasingly likely.

"Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence -- while the world watches on," Martin Griffiths, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said in a Jan. 5 statement.

"Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over. Some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amidst this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is around the corner," Griffiths said.

ABC News saw those signs of hunger at the soup kitchen in Rafah on Wednesday. Hundreds of people lined up, clutching containers hoping for some food from the vats bubbling with pasta and soup, many of them children looking gaunt and hungry.

"We stand for a long time in line, and sometimes we come and find that they have not cooked anything and we wait," Umm Mohammed told ABC News as she stood in line. "And sometimes we come and find that everything is finished and we go and don't take anything."

"Water is scarce and poor sanitation is inescapable. The cold and rain this week created rivers of waste. The little food that is available doesn't meet children's unique nutritional needs. As a result, thousands of children are malnourished and sick," Chaiban said.

Among those children who are sick are Al-Dahdouh's little ones. "Our children got sick, literally sick, all day sick, fever, vomiting, diarrhea all day, not a single one of them is healthy," she said.

"UNICEF has described the Gaza Strip as the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," Chaiban said.

"We have said this is a war on children. But these truths do not seem to be getting through. Of the nearly 25,000 people reported to have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the escalation in hostilities, up to 70% are reported to be women and children. The killing of children must cease immediately," he added.

Two Qatari armed forces aircraft carrying 61 tons of aid landed in el-Arish, Egypt, on Wednesday, which was then transferred into Gaza, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry. The assistance includes medicine for both Israeli hostages and Gaza citizens, as well as food, after Qatar and Egypt brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas. There's been no verification the Israeli hostages have received this medicine yet, according to the Qataris. There are still 136 hostages held captive by Hamas, Israeli officials say.