KHAN YUNIS: Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.

Palestinians already displaced numerous times by Israeli air strikes were forced to flee Al-Halaa and other northern neighbourhoods of Khan Yunis on Sunday, a day after an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City killed at least 90 Palestinians.

“We’re exhausted. This is the 10th time I and my family have had to leave our shelter,” said Zaki Mohammad, 28, who lives in the Hamad housing project in western Khan Yunis, where the occupants of two multi-floor buildings were ordered to leave.

“We are running from death to death.”

An Israeli airstrike near the Khan Yunis market at the city centre killed four Palestinians and wounded several others, medics said, while residents reported that two multi-floor buildings were bombed, as smoke rose from areas where Israeli planes carried out attacks in the eastern and western parts of the city.

UN says over 75,000 Palestinians displaced in last few days; Israel faces world anger over school strike

The forces pushed deeper into Al-Jalaa area that erstwhile was considered relatively safer zone. Al-Jalaa would become a “dangerous combat zone”, the Israeli forces warned the remaining population of Palestinians as the army dropped leaflets containing fresh evacuation orders telling residents and refugees to leave the Khan Yunis area also.

“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,” said the announcement posted on X.

Families gathered their meagre belongings and left the area, fearing fresh missile strikes and fighting. Crowds of people, mainly from the Hamad neighbourhood in Al-Jalaa, left with whatever they could lay their hands on, some loading mattresses, clothing and cooking utensils into pick-up trucks, while others simply walked with their bags.

Young men and women escorted elderly family members, while others tried to catch a ride to safer zones.

Gazans trapped: UNRWA chief

Head of the UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini said on X, “Just in the past few days, more than 75,000 people have been displaced in southwest Gaza.”

Lazzarini said the new evacuation orders sent many people fleeing. “Some are only able to carry their children with them, some carry their whole lives in one small bag,” he said.

“The people of Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.”

The Israeli army carried out air strikes in Khan Yunis on Sunday, wounding several people who were treated at Nasser hospital, residents said.

“They were all civilians and some were shopping in the market when a missile hit and left people lying in the streets,” said Awad Barbakh, a resident.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since October 2023 and the toll is rising by the day, the Gaza health ministry says. Officials say most of the fatalities have been civilians.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave. Areas designated as humanitarian zones, like Al-Mawasi in western Khan Yunis where residents were being sent, have been bombed several times by Israeli forces.

The bombardment of the Al-Tabieen religious school and mosque, which claimed nearly a hundred lives drew criticism from across the Middle East and beyond alongside calls for a ceasefire, after international mediators invited the warring sides to resume talks towards a long-sought truce and prisoner-release deal.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2024