The war is intensifying in southern Gaza, where civilians say no place is safe

Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, said Monday that while it was too early to make definitive assessments, the United States saw signs that Israel was making changes to limit civilian casualties, including reducing of mass displacement.

He pointed to the more detailed evacuation map published by the Israeli military, saying it represented “a much more targeted request” and “an improvement over what has happened before.”

But the civilian toll is still heavy. More than 300 people have been killed every day since the collapse of Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas on Friday, according to Gaza health officials. According to the United Nations, nearly 1.9 million people, or more than 85 percent of all Gaza residents, have been displaced by the war.

Israeli leaders accuse Hamas of endangering the civilian population and say their fighters operate from underground tunnels and densely populated city neighborhoods, using men, women and children as human shields.

President Biden blamed the collapse of the ceasefire on Tuesday on Hamas’ refusal to release the women it continues to hold hostage, citing “records of unimaginable brutality” by Hamas against women, including rape and mutilation committed during the October 7 attack. He did not suggest, as a State Department spokesman did on Monday, that Hamas held the remaining women because it did not want their experiences of abuse to be made public.

Israel does not have an official tally of the number of Hamas fighters killed, said Colonel Lerner, the military spokesman. But the Army estimates it is “several thousand,” he said, based on extrapolations from “information we receive from the field and from our after-action evaluation.”

Human rights groups have warned that as the battlefield expands, besieged civilians are being pushed into a patchwork of increasingly smaller areas lacking adequate food, shelter and medical care.

With shelters in Rafah already far beyond capacity, newcomers erected tents and built shelters on the streets or in whatever empty space they could find. according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs.

“The conditions necessary to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist,” said Lynn Hastings, UN aid coordinator for the Palestinian territories. said in a statement. “If it is possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.”