The Israeli military issued on Sunday a new order for Palestinians in Khan Younis, Gaza, to evacuate additional areas and adjusted the boundaries of the humanitarian zone. This forced tens of thousands of residents and displaced Palestinian families to leave their homes in the dark, amid the sound of explosions caused by tank shelling echoing around them.
The Israeli military stated that the Al-Jalaa area in Khan Younis is no longer considered part of what it calls the “humanitarian zone,” adding that its forces will conduct military operations in this area against Hamas. According to the Times of Israel, the military explained that the adjustment of the “humanitarian zone” boundaries was due to “precise intelligence about Hamas establishing terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Yesterday (Saturday), an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City, where displaced Palestinians had taken refuge, killed at least 90 people, according to Palestinian Civil Defense, sparking international outrage. The Israeli military said it targeted a command center for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the groups described as merely an attempt to justify the attack, resulting in the deaths of 19 militants.
In Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the evacuation orders included neighborhoods in the center, east, and west, making it one of the broadest evacuation orders in the conflict that has continued for more than 10 months. This comes two days after tanks returned to the eastern part of the city.
Evacuation orders were disseminated on the platform “X” and through text and voice messages sent to residents’ mobile phones, saying: “For your safety, you must immediately evacuate to the newly established humanitarian zone… the area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone.”
The Israeli military stated that it targeted about 30 Hamas military objectives in the last 24 hours, including military infrastructure, anti-tank missile launch sites, and weapons storage facilities.
“Fleeing from Death to Death”
The United Nations reports that the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes, turning the small coastal strip into ruins and debris. Palestinian officials and the UN say there are no safe areas in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have repeatedly bombed areas classified as humanitarian zones, such as the Mawasi area in western Khan Younis, where residents were instructed to seek refuge.
Tens of thousands left their homes and shelters in the middle of the night, heading west towards Mawasi and north towards Deir al-Balah, which is already overcrowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Zaki Muhammad, 28, who lives in the Hamad Housing Project in western Khan Younis, where residents of two multi-story buildings received orders to leave, said: “We are exhausted. This is the tenth time my family and I have been displaced from our shelter.” He added to Reuters via a messaging app: “People carried their belongings, their children, their dreams, and their fears and ran towards the unknown because there is no safe place. We are fleeing from death to death.”
The war began on October 7, following an unprecedented Hamas attack inside Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The attackers took 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still in Gaza, and 39 have died, according to the Israeli military.
Israel has been responding for more than 10 months with devastating bombings and ground operations that have killed about 40,000 people, mostly civilians, women, and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
