At least two Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, just hours after Israeli authorities issued a new evacuation order for Khan Yunis, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee again in difficult humanitarian conditions.
Several other people were injured in the attacks in the center of Khan Yunis in the south, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The military escalation comes just days before ceasefire talks are scheduled to begin on Thursday. The US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations to end the war.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli army announced that residents of the al-Jalaa neighborhood in the north of Khan Younis had to leave the area immediately “due to numerous terrorist attacks, the exploitation of the humanitarian zone for terrorist activities and the firing of rockets” at Israel.
The area has become a “dangerous combat zone,” the military said in a statement on X. It also announced that it was preparing to launch a new operation against Hamas fighters there.
It also said residents were being asked via text message, voicemail and social media to leave the area immediately to avoid casualties.
The call to leave the area is the latest in a series of evacuation orders for Khan Yunis in recent weeks after the Israeli army resumed attacks on the city, where it says Hamas militants are operating.
Khan Yunis had been declared a security zone by Israel, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have found refuge since the outbreak of war last October after fleeing their homes from other parts of the Gaza Strip.
The head of the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that more than 75,000 people had been displaced from the south of the Gaza Strip in recent days.
“They are going to overcrowded places where the shelters are already overcrowded with families,” he wrote on X on Sunday. “Unlike in other wars, people in Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.”
Sunday’s evacuation order came a day after more than 90 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense Authority.
The Israeli military said it attacked a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command post at the school, killing 19 militants. Both Palestinian militant groups denied the claim.
Saturday’s attack sparked a wave of condemnation, including from the European Union and US Vice President Kamala Harris, who again called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the strike at the school at Algeria’s request.
According to the Health Ministry, nearly 40,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 91,000 others injured in Gaza since Israel began its offensive on the enclave in retaliation for Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7.
According to UN figures, the war also forced up to 1.9 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be displaced – some of them multiple times.
In their attack on southern Israel, Hamas fighters killed nearly 1,200 people and took more than 240 others hostage.
