Israel orders evacuation of part of Gaza humanitarian zone

YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli military has ordered civilians to temporarily evacuate from part of its designated humanitarian zone in southern Gaza ahead of what it called a “forceful operation” against Palestinian armed groups, BBC reports.

The military said there had been “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the State of Israel” from eastern neighbourhoods of the city of Khan Younis and told residents to head to the “adjusted” al-Mawasi humanitarian area.

According to the BBC, Palestinians reported that the announcement was followed by intense Israeli air and artillery strikes in and around Khan Younis.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said at least 14 people, including six children and four women, had been killed.

Much of Gaza’s second city was destroyed in an Israeli offensive earlier this year, but large numbers of people returned there after Israeli troops began an operation in the southernmost city of Rafah in May, BBC adds.

At the start of this month, tens of thousands were displaced once again after the Israeli military issued a fresh evacuation order for other eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis as well as nearby towns and villages. They were instructed to go to the humanitarian zone - which stretches along the coast from al-Mawasi to the central town of Deir al-Balah - despite warnings from the UN that it was already overcrowded with tents and lacking basic services, the report continues.

Israel has also carried out several deadly strikes in the humanitarian zone in the past two weeks, which it has said targeted Palestinian fighters operating there.

On 13 July, the Gaza health ministry said more than 90 people had been killed in an Israeli strike inside al-Mawasi that targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing.

Israel launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Almost 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.