Israel today ordered the evacuation of those in areas of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis as it continues its ground assault, forcing desperate residents to move even as bombs fall on areas still deemed safe. The Israeli military posted a map this morning on Platform X with about a quarter of the city of Khan Yunis marked in yellow as ground to be evacuated immediately. Three arrows point south and west, urging people to move even closer to the Mediterranean Sea and the Egyptian border.
Many of those trying to move away had already been displaced from other areas and several are sleeping in makeshift shelters having their minimal possessions in plastic bags. Abu Mohammed told Reuters that this is the third time he has been forced to move since he left his home in the northern Gaza Strip. “Last night Israeli tanks they bombed from the east, and the north, as well as from (ships of war) in the west from the direction of the sea, fires around us, and the house trembled and was illuminated by the red glow of the explosions, causing panic and terror to the adults and children” , he said. “Why did they throw us out of our homes in Gaza City if they planned to kill us there?”
In a house in Khan Younis that was hit overnight, flames licked the collapsed walls and gray smoke rose from the rubble. A child’s stuffed animal was covered in dust. Small children searched through the rubble with their bare hands. Nearby, Nesrin Abdelmoti stood among the damaged furniture in the rented room where she lives with her divorced daughter and two-year-old baby. “We were sleeping at 5 in the morning when we felt things around us collapsing, everything going up and down,” she told Reuters. “They told (people) to move from the north to Khan Younis, as the south is safer. And now, they bombed Han Younis. Even Han Yunis is not safe now, and even if we move to Rafa, Rafa is not safe either. Where do they want us to go?”, relays APE-MPE.
Up to 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 inhabitants have fled their homes due to Israeli bombardment that has flattened much of the coastal enclave. Health officials in the enclave say that the bombings have claimed the lives of over 15,500 people, with thousands more missing and possibly buried in the rubble. Israel launched its operation to eliminate the Hamas Islamists who rule Gaza in retaliation for an attack by the Palestinian group’s militants on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage, according to Israeli figures.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) continues to expand its ground operation against centers of Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip,” Israeli army spokesman Major General Daniel Haggari told reporters in Tel Aviv overnight. “The forces come face to face with terrorists and kill them.”
At the same time, the army distributed footage showing troops patrolling in armored vehicles and on foot in fields and damaged urban areas and firing, without specifying where they were inside Gaza. Government spokesman Eilon Levi said the army hit more than 400 targets over the weekend “including widespread airstrikes in the Khan Younis area” and that they also killed Hamas fighters while destroying its infrastructure in Beit Lahiyya in the north.
Source: News Beast
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