Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip overnight, forcing thousands of Palestinians and displaced families to flee in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them. According to the Israeli military, it was attacking militants from Hamas – which administered Gaza before the beginning of the war – who were using those areas to attack and fire rockets at the Jewish country.
On Saturday, at least 90 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school where displaced Palestinians took shelter, according to the civil defence service, prompting an international outcry. Israel said that its military had struck a Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant command post, an allegation the two groups rejected as a pretext, and killed 19 militants.
In Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, the evacuation instructions were given in the districts in the centre, east and west, making it one of the largest such orders in the 10-month-old conflict, two days after tanks returned to the east of the city.
The announcement was posted on X and in text and audio messages to residents' phones: "For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to the newly created humanitarian zone. The area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone."
UN agency reacts
Head of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said that the people of Gaza were trapped and were stuck with nowhere to go.
"Some are only able to carry their children with them, some carry their whole lives in one small bag. They are going to overcrowded places where shelters are already overflowing with families. They have lost everything and need everything," he said.
The Israeli army said it had struck around 30 Hamas military targets in the previous 24 hours, including military structures, anti-tank missile launch posts, and weapons storage facilities. The Islamic Jihad armed wing said fighters fired mortar bombs against Israeli forces massing in the eastern areas of Khan Younis.
Later on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike near the Khan Younis market at the centre of the city killed four Palestinians and wounded several others, medics said. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since the war broke out last October and the toll is rising by the day, the Gaza health ministry says.
Gaza health officials say most of the fatalities have been civilians but Israel says at least a third are fighters. Israel says it has lost 329 soldiers in Gaza.
Israel began its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(With Reuters inputs)
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