The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the military operation against terrorist organisations near the Palestinian town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and urged civilians to evacuate, according to the IDF statement.
The IDF is about to operate against the terrorist organizations in the area and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the Aljalaa neighborhood to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area. The IDF will continue to act against the Hamas terrorist organization, which uses the Gazan civilians as a human shield for its terrorist activities and infrastructure, the IDF said on its Telegram channel.
The Khan Younis neighbourhood has already experienced evacuation orders in late July and heavy fighting that devastated the area earlier this year. The neighbourhood has also been the epicentre of Israel’s ground operation in recent weeks, with battles and non-stop fighting forcing thousands of Gazans to flee the area, many of them already displaced from the northern areas where Israel first launched its offensive.
AFP journalists observed one young man carrying wooden planks tied loosely into bundles to use as shelter or fuel in the near term. In addition, petrol shortages are especially acute, hence people are often on the move in most cases, only some were in cars. The displaced Palestinians continue to arrive in overcrowded Rafah, near the border with Egypt, a United Nations human rights spokesman said on Friday. People there are sheltering in makeshift tents with little food or clean water.
On Thursday, Israel dropped leaflets to urge residents to leave the eastern towns of Khan Younis governorate, including Al-Salqa, Al-Qarara, Bani Suheila and neighbourhoods in Khan Younis city. “Hamas and terrorist organisations continue to launch rockets from your areas,” read the flyers.
Late last month, Philip Lazzarini, in charge of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that only 14 per cent of areas in Gaza were beyond the scope of evacuation orders.
The war in Gaza began when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing 1,198 people, mostly civilians. The retaliatory Israeli military offensive has claimed the lives of at least 39,699 people in Gaza, mostly children and women, according to the territory’s health ministry.
