Israeli Military Expands Evacuation Order for Gaza’s Battered Khan Younis

The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders extending further into southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, an area where displaced Palestinians have sought refuge. The military announced on Saturday that remaining in this area had become “dangerous” due to rockets fired by Palestinian fighters.

“The adjustment is being made based on precise intelligence that indicates Hamas has embedded terrorist infrastructure in this area, which was initially designated as a humanitarian zone,” the military stated, adding that it would soon “forcefully operate” in the region.

This latest evacuation order follows a previous directive issued a week ago for the eastern parts of Khan Younis, which coincided with the launch of a new ground invasion. This invasion began months after an earlier offensive.

The initial phase of the Khan Younis invasion displaced at least 180,000 Palestinians within the first four days, with many forced to leave behind their belongings, according to the United Nations.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud noted that people are being directed to “safer” areas despite repeated international warnings that no location is truly safe. “What we are seeing on the ground suggests this is more of an enforced internal displacement affecting an already displaced population in southern Khan Younis, who had previously fled the eastern part of the area as Israeli military operations expanded,” he said.

Mahmoud also reported an air attack that killed several people inside a home in the area on Saturday morning, prior to the latest mass evacuation order, which was disseminated through leaflets, SMS, phone calls, recorded audio messages, and Arabic-language media broadcasts.

Medical sources informed Al Jazeera that 14 bodies had arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis since the morning. Additionally, an Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Israeli artillery shelling has been targeting the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military continues its attacks on various areas across the besieged enclave, including Rafah in the south. On Saturday, the military confirmed it had struck “dozens of targets” over the past day, including the Zeitoun neighborhood in northern Gaza City, which has been a repeated target for months.

UN agencies have condemned Israel’s policy of mass displacement of Gaza’s civilian population and military attacks on areas previously designated as humanitarian “safe zones” by Israel.

Since the onset of the current conflict in October, the Israeli military has reported more than 39,000 Palestinian deaths in the Gaza Strip, with over 90,000 people wounded and thousands missing.