Hamas increasingly relying on improvised bombs to inflict casualties and slow down Israeli assault

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Israeli forces and Hamas are fighting house-to-house battles along the length of the Gaza Strip, with devastating consequences for the civilian population amid a complete collapse in humanitarian relief.

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been fighting their way through badly bomb-damaged urban areas in northern and southern Gaza, Hamas has increasingly relied on improvised bombs to inflict casualties and slow down the assault.

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• See all of coverage on the Israel-Hamas war here

Countries supporting Israel with arms have a “permanent stain on their reputation”, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a major aid agency, has said in a statement.

While condemning the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas and demanding the release of hostages held by the militant group, Jan Egeland said Israel’s military campaign “can in no way be described as ‘self-defence.” He said:

The pulverising of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age. Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell …

Countries supporting Israel with arms must understand that these civilian deaths will be a permanent stain on their reputation.

Israeli forces pushing towards southern city of Khan Younis and engaged in battles for key urban areas in the north

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were pushing ahead with the second phase of the ground offensive against Hamas, towards the southern city of Khan Younis, it became clear they were still involved in intense combat to control substantial areas of northern Gaza.

Gen Yaron Finkelman, the head of the IDF’s southern command, said on Tuesday: “We are in the most intense day [of fighting] since the beginning of the ground operation in terms of Hamas terrorists killed, the number of encounters with the enemy and the volume of fire our forces use, both from the ground and the air. We intend to continue attacking.”

This blog has now closed. Read our full report on the latest developments in Gaza here and our report on a UN meeting to hear accounts of sexual violence committed by Hamas on 7 October here.