The Israeli army is pushing towards the centre of Gaza City from two directions, “sandwiching” residents and forcing them towards the coast in a bid to drive them out of the enclave’s biggest urban centre.

Israeli army spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that infantry, tanks and artillery were advancing on the inner city, backed by the air force, with the aim of applying pressure on the armed group Hamas.

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Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that the Israeli military was advancing from the northwest and the southeast, “sandwiching people in the middle” and pushing them to the west of the city, where the al-Rashid coastal road leading south is located.

“The attacks on overcrowded neighbourhoods are causing panic and fear, and pushing people literally to run for their lives. We’re seeing waves of people now doing just that,” he said, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza.

People in Gaza City told Al Jazeera about nonstop attacks, including “aerial strikes by drones and fighter jets” and detonations from remote-controlled “robots” – unmanned vehicles packed with explosives that the Israeli army has been deploying to blow up neighbourhoods as it advances inwards.

At least 40 people were killed in Gaza City on Thursday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Lifelines collapse

Amid the apocalyptic scenes, fleeing families faced the heartbreaking prospect of renewed displacement in a territory devoid of “safe zones”, only this time with the very real possibility that they might never again return home.

Still, many have stayed put. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claimed that approximately 740,000 people – roughly 35 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million population – were still in the north of the enclave as of Tuesday.

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However, the bureau signalled that numbers could drop, with the continuous Israeli attacks driving more people out and basic services disappearing.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) warned on Thursday that Gaza City’s last lifelines were collapsing.

OCHA accused Israel of “systematically blocking” efforts to bring aid to people, citing the closure of the Zikim crossing to Gaza’s famine-stricken north and bans on certain food items.

‘Blatant disregard’

Outside Gaza City, at least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in other parts of the enclave, according to medical sources.

The Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers were killed in the early hours of the morning in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine denounced on social media Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international legal requirements to distinguish between combatants and civilians in its air attacks on Gaza.

As Israel expanded its offensive on Thursday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of restrictions on aid into Gaza, and the return of hostages held by Hamas.

The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said that “Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza.”