Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to flee as the sounds of tank shelling echoed through the darkness. The Israeli military stated that it was targeting Hamas militants, who they claim were using these areas to launch attacks and fire rockets.
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike struck a school in Gaza City, where displaced Palestinians were seeking shelter, killing at least 90 people, according to the civil defense service. The attack sparked international condemnation. The Israeli military claimed that the strike targeted a command post used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, killing 19 fighters. However, both groups denied the allegation, dismissing it as a pretext.
In Khan Younis, the evacuation order affected districts in the center, east, and west, making it one of the largest directives issued in the 10-month conflict, just two days after tanks moved back into the eastern part of the city. The evacuation order was communicated via social media and through text and audio messages sent directly to residents’ phones, warning them to “evacuate immediately to the newly created humanitarian zone” as their current locations were deemed dangerous combat zones.
The Israeli army reported striking approximately 30 Hamas military targets in the previous 24 hours, including military structures, anti-tank missile launch sites, and weapons storage facilities.
According to the United Nations, most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes, with large parts of the territory reduced to rubble. Palestinian and U.N. officials contend that no areas in Gaza are truly safe, noting that designated humanitarian zones, like Al-Mawasi in western Khan Younis, have been bombed multiple times by Israeli forces.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began after Hamas fighters launched an incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli reports. Since then, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. While Gaza health officials claim that most of the casualties have been civilians, Israel maintains that at least a third of the deaths were combatants. Israel has also reported the loss of 329 soldiers in the conflict.
