GAZA STRIP, Jan. 23 (CNA) - Palestinians sheltered from intense fighting in southern Gaza where communications were cut again on Monday (Jan 22), as pressure mounted on Israel for a solution involving long-sought Palestinian statehood.

Mahdi Antar, 21, sought refuge at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza's main southern city which has become the epicentre of the war between Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers now in its fourth month.

"The situation is terrifying. Tonight and today are very difficult, bombing and shooting. I do not know what to do," he said.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported on Monday that more than 120 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.

Victims of the latest Israeli strikes were brought to Al-Nasser hospital and mourners buried corpses in a mass grave, AFP journalists saw.

The war broke out with Hamas's unprecedented Oct 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In response, Israel has carried out a relentless offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 per cent of them women, children and adolescents, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Photo from Reuters