DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The Israeli military ordered more evacuations
in southern Gaza early Sunday, a day after a deadly airstrike on a school-
turned-shelter in the north killed at least 100 Palestinians, according to local
health authorities.
The airstrike on Saturday was one of the deadliest attacks in the 10-month war.
Israel said that it targeted a Hamas command post, killing 19 fighters.
Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops return to heavily
destroyed areas where they previously battled Palestinian fighters. The vast
majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced, often
multiple times, in the besieged territory 25 miles (40 kilometers) long by about
7 miles (11 kilometers) wide.
The latest evacuation orders apply to areas of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-
largest city, including part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone from which
the military said that rockets had been fired. Israel accuses Hamas and other
militants of hiding among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
The humanitarian zone has steadily shrunk during the war with the various
evacuation orders. Hundreds of thousands of people have crammed into squalid
tent camps with few public services or sought shelter in schools, though the
United Nations says that hundreds of those have been directly hit or damaged.
Khan Younis suffered widespread destruction during an air and ground offensive
earlier this year. Tens of thousands fled again last week after an evacuation
order.
The new order came in leaflets dropped from the sky. As smoke rose on the
horizon, hundreds of families carrying belongings in their arms left homes and
shelters early Sunday, seeking elusive refuge. One child carried a stuffed Hello
Kitty doll as others walked through rubble-filled streets.
“We don’t know where to go,” said Amal Abu Yahia, a mother of three, who had
returned to Khan Younis in June to shelter in their severely damaged home. It
was the fourth displacement for the 42-year-old widow, whose husband was
killed when an Israeli airstrike hit their neighbors’ house in March.
She said that they went to Muwasi, a sprawling tent camp along the coast, but
couldn’t find space.
Ramadan Issa, a father of five in his 50s, fled Khan Younis with 17 members of
his extended family, joining hundreds of people walking toward central Gaza.
“Every time we settle in one place and build tents for women and children, the
occupation comes and bombs the area,” he said, referring to Israel. “This
situation is unbearable.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and
combatants, says the Palestinian death toll from the war is approaching 40,000.
Aid groups have struggled to address the staggering humanitarian crisis, while
international experts have warned of famine.
The war began when Hamas-led militants burst through Israel’s defenses on Oct.
7 and rampaged through farming communities and army bases near the border,
killing around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting around 250
people.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to mediate a
cease-fire and the return of the roughly 110 remaining hostages, around a third
of whom Israeli authorities believe to be dead. Talks were due to resume on
Thursday.
The conflict has threatened to trigger a regional war, as Israel has traded fire
with Iran and its militant allies across the region.
In the occupied West Bank, which has seen increased violence since the war
began, Israel’s military said that a Israeli civilian was fatally shot in an attack by
“terrorists” in the area of Mehola Junction. The military said “terrorists” opened
fire from a passing vehicle at other cars, and another civilian was wounded.
Soldiers were pursuing the attackers.
Israel’s airstrike on Saturday hit a mosque inside a school in Gaza City where
thousands of people were sheltering. The Gaza Health Ministry said that 80
were killed and around 50 others wounded during morning prayers. The Israeli
military disputed the toll and said that it killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad
militants. Hamas and Palestinian activists disputed that, saying two of the 19 had
been killed in earlier strikes, and others were known to be civilians or
opponents of Hamas.