Israel has continued to pound Gaza, killing dozens and issuing new evacuation threats.
The Israeli military launched strikes overnight that killed at least 14 people in the north of the enclave, according to reports on Tuesday. Meanwhile, new forced evacuation orders were issued, calling on people to leave areas in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Medics reported that eight people were killed in a series of overnight strikes in Beit Lahiya, while four others were killed in Gaza City. A further two people were killed in attacks in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps in the northern part of the Strip.
Later, the Israeli army ordered residents in the districts of Khan Younis to flee, prompting a westward exodus in the early morning hours.
“For your own safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” the army said a statement on X, citing rocket launches by Palestinian groups.
Research states that there are no “humanitarian zones” in which people can find safety, and that forced evacuation orders do not help those fleeing to find safety or shelter from harm.
The use of these terms by Israel is aimed at bestowing legitimacy on forced displacement and creating the illusion of adherence to humanitarian law, the Action For Humanity nongovernment organisation stated.
Palestinian and United Nations officials also say that there are no safe areas in the enclave. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times since the war began last year.
Palestinian groups have accused Israel’s army of trying to drive people from the northern edge of Gaza with forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The army denies this and says it has returned there to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in an area it had previously cleared.
The Palestinian Civil Defence said its operations in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon have been halted for nearly four weeks due to Israeli attacks on their teams and fuel shortages.
On Tuesday, it said 88 of its members had been killed, 304 wounded, and 21 detained by Israel since the war started, while 13 of 27 vehicles in the central and southern Gaza Strip were out of operation due to fuel shortages.
