Gaza, Gaza Strip.- Hundreds of Palestinians fled the northern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday following warnings from the Israeli army that it was preparing new operations in the area, AFP reporters said.
Israel has urged residents of the Al Jalaa area to leave by dropping leaflets from planes and sending text messages, forcing families who have often been displaced several times in more than ten months of war on the Palestinian territory back onto the roads.
The conflict erupted on October 7, when Islamist militants killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, according to an Israeli tally based on official figures. More than 300 soldiers were among the dead.
They also took 251 hostages, of whom 111 are still held in Gaza, although 39 of them are believed to have died, according to the Israeli army.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has so far left 39,790 dead, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not detail the number of civilians and combatants killed.
The war has caused a humanitarian disaster and threatens the Palestinian territory, home to 2.4 million people, with famine, according to the UN.
The Israeli army says it intends to eliminate the presence of Hamas fighters in Khan Younis, who have already been targeted by several major offensives. Indeed, Israeli troops periodically return to areas from which they had withdrawn, in response to the resurgence of Hamas units.
On Sunday, many families hurriedly left the Al Jalaa area, on foot or in pickup trucks loaded with mattresses, clothes or kitchen utensils.
“I fled Gaza City at the beginning of the war towards Khan Yunis,” says Um Sami Shaada, a 55-year-old Palestinian.
“My daughter was killed there in a bombing, so we went to Rafah,” further south, “then we came back here and now, with this new evacuation order, we don’t know where to go anymore,” he explains.
“In the past few days alone, more than 75,000 people have been displaced in the south-west of the Gaza Strip,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on social media.
“Gazanis are trapped and have nowhere to go,” he added.
“Some can only take their children with them, others have put their whole lives in a small bag.”
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