Israel orders extra individuals in crowded southern Gaza to evacuate as heavy bombardment shifts there
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel on Sunday ordered extra evacuations in and round Gaza‘s second-largest city of Khan Younis, followed by heavy bombardment, as the military’s offensive shifted to the southern half of the territory the place Israeli officers assert that leaders of the Hamas militant group are hiding.
Palestinians within the Gaza Strip stated they had been operating out of locations to go within the sealed-off territory that borders Israel and Egypt. Many of its 2.3 million individuals are crammed within the south after Israel ordered civilians to depart the north within the early days of the struggle, which was sparked by the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas and different militants that killed about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, in southern Israel.
The United Nations estimates that 1.8 million Gazans have been displaced.
Heavy bombardment was reported in a single day into Sunday round Khan Younis and the southern metropolis of Rafah, in addition to elements of the north that had been the main focus of Israel‘s shattering air and floor offensive. Juliette Toma, director of communications on the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, stated practically 958,000 displaced individuals had been in 99 United Nations amenities within the southern Gaza Strip.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk urged an finish to the struggle, saying civilian struggling was “too much to bear.”
Hopes for an additional momentary truce had been fading. A weeklong cease-fire that expired Friday facilitated the discharge of dozens of the round 240 Gaza-held Israeli and international hostages in trade for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But Israel has referred to as its negotiators house.
“We will continue the war until we achieve all its goals, and it’s impossible to achieve those goals without the ground operation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Saturday night. One objective is to take away Hamas from energy in Gaza.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza asserted that tons of of individuals had been killed or wounded for the reason that cease-fire ended. “The majority of victims are still under the rubble,” Ashraf al-Qidra stated.
On Sunday, Israel‘s military widened evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis, telling residents of at least five more areas to leave. Residents said the military dropped leaflets ordering them to move south to the border city of Rafah or to a coastal area in the southwest. “Khan Younis city is a dangerous combat zone,” leaflets read.
But Halima Abdel-Rahman, a widow and mother of four, said she won’t heed such orders anymore. She fled her house in October to an space outdoors Khan Younis, the place she stays with kin.
“The occupation tells you to go to this area, then they bomb it,” she stated by cellphone. “The reality is that no place is safe in Gaza. They kill people in the north. They kill people in the south.”
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has urged Israel to keep away from vital new mass displacement and do extra to guard civilians. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris additionally instructed Egypt’s president that “under no circumstances” would the U.S. allow the compelled relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders.
On the bottom in Gaza, there was frustration and mourning. Outside a Gaza City hospital, a dust-covered boy named Saaed Khalid Shehta dropped to his knees beside the bloodied physique of his little brother Mohammad, considered one of a number of our bodies laid out after individuals stated their road was hit by airstrikes. He kissed him.
“You bury me with him!” the boy cried. A well being employee at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital stated greater than 15 kids had been killed.
Israel‘s military said its fighter jets and helicopters struck targets in the Gaza Strip including “tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage facilities,” while a drone killed five Hamas fighters. Military officials acknowledged ”extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area.”
The bodies of 31 people killed in Israeli bombardment of central Gaza were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, said Omar al-Darawi, a hospital administrative employee. Associated Press video showed bodies in bags as people held funeral prayers. One woman wept, cradling a child’s physique on her lap. Another carried the physique of a child.
Outside a morgue in Khan Younis, resident Samy al-Najeila carried the physique of a kid. He stated his sons had been getting ready to evacuate their house, “but the occupation didn’t give us any time. The three-floor building was destroyed completely, the whole block was totally destroyed.” He stated six of the our bodies had been his kin.
“Five people are still under the rubble,” he stated. “God help us.”
The Health Ministry stated Sunday the general loss of life toll in Gaza since Oct. 7 had surpassed 15,500. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, however stated 70% of the useless had been girls and youngsters. It stated greater than 41,000 individuals had been wounded.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,” the U.S. vp stated Saturday.
Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, stated Israel was making “maximum effort” to guard civilians, and the army has used leaflets, cellphone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to induce Gazans to maneuver from particular areas.
Israel says it targets Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the militants, accusing them of working in residential neighborhoods. It claims to have killed hundreds of militants, with out offering proof. Israel says no less than 78 of its troopers have been killed within the offensive in northern Gaza.
The renewed hostilities have heightened considerations for the 137 hostages who the Israeli army believes are nonetheless being held by Hamas. During the current truce, 105 hostages had been freed, and Israel launched 240 Palestinian prisoners. Most of these launched by each side had been girls and youngsters.
The households of hostages have referred to as for an pressing assembly with Israel‘s Security Cabinet, saying time is “running out to save those still held by Hamas.”
Fears of a wider conflict continued. Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group stated it struck Israeli positions close to the tense Lebanon-Israel border. Eleven individuals – eight troopers and three civilians – had been wounded by Hezbollah hearth within the space of Beit Hillel, military radio reported. The army stated its artillery struck sources of fireside from Lebanon. It additionally stated its fighter jets struck different Hezbollah targets.
Elsewhere, Iraqi militants with the Iran-backed umbrella group the Islamic Resistance in Iraq stated they struck the Kharab al-Jir U.S. army base in Syria with rockets. A U.S. army official, talking on situation of anonymity in step with rules, stated rockets hit Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria however there have been no stories of casualties or injury.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
