On Sunday, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of several residents of the southern Gaza Strip ahead of a new military operation. Among those ordered to leave the area were residents of a district in Khan Younis that was formerly part of an Israeli-declared “humanitarian zone.”
The al-Jalaa neighborhood in the north of Khan Younis is no longer considered part of a humanitarian zone due to “significant terrorist activities” there, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The evacuation orders come at a time when most of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents are living in makeshift shelters, with many displaced by fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants from the extremist Hamas group and others.
What did the Israeli military say?
The Israeli military said civilians in al-Jalaa, who had been informed via text messages, phone calls, leaflets and other messages in Arabic, were to be relocated to a newly demarcated humanitarian zone.
“The adjustment comes in line with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has established a terrorist infrastructure in the area defined as a humanitarian zone,” the Israeli army said.
Israel regularly accuses Hamas and other militant groups of using civilian areas to carry out attacks. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the US, the EU, Israel and others.
The Norwegian Refugee Council recently estimated that evacuation orders issued by Israel in recent weeks have reduced the total area of “humanitarian zones” in the Gaza Strip from 20 percent of the enclave to just over 14 percent.
Previous evacuation order
Khan Younis, the second largest city in the Gaza Strip, was the target of an air and ground offensive earlier this year that caused considerable destruction.
Last week, tens of thousands of residents fled the area following an earlier evacuation order.
Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for areas to which its military has returned after previous operations to eliminate the insurgents failed to prevent their return.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are currently crammed into tent cities with hardly any public services. International experts are warning of famine in the region.
Sunday’s evacuation order came shortly after an Israeli attack on a school in Gaza City where displaced Palestinians had sought refuge, killing dozens of people, according to Hamas media. Israel has disputed the death toll, saying the attack targeted a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command post and killed 19 militants.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive in response to an attack by Hamas and other militants in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in farming communities and army bases near the border. About 250 people were taken hostage during the rampage. Some of them were rescued or returned home in a prisoner exchange, but many are still in Gaza or have already died.
tj/nm (AP, AFP, Reuters, EFE)
