Gazans flee before Israeli strikes

Hundreds of Gazans fled the northern neighbourhoods of Khan Yunis on Sunday after Israel issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of a new operation against Palestinian militants it says have taken refuge there.

Early in the morning the army dropped leaflets and sent mobile phone messages telling residents to leave the Al-Jalaa in Khan Yunis, which was already considered a humanitarian safe zone.

The military warned Al-Jalaa would become a “dangerous combat zone”, forcing Palestinians already displaced numerous times by the Gaza war to leave looking for a new shelter.

“The IDF (Israeli army) is about to operate against the terrorist organisations in the area and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the Al-Jalaa neighbourhood to temporarily evacuate,” the military said in a statement.

Families gathered their meagre belongings and left, fearing fresh missile strikes and fighting, AFP journalists reported.

Khan Yunis, Gaza’s main southern governorate, had been hit with several evacuation orders in past weeks and devastated by months of bombardment that have reduced residential blocks to piles of rubble.

“Just in the past few days, more than 75000 people have been displaced in southwest Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said on the social media platform X.

The army also carried out a strike in Khan Yunis on Sunday wounding several people who were treated at Nasser hospital, residents told AFP.

The military has often returned to areas of Gaza where it had previously fought Palestinian militants, only to find them resurfacing or to act on intelligence about the location of hostages.

Meanwhile, rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed 93 people on Saturday, sparking international condemnation despite Israel’s insistence that it was targeting militants.

AFP could not independently verify the toll which, if confirmed, would be one of the largest from a single strike during 10 months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants since Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The bombardment of Al-Tabieen religious school and mosque drew criticism from across the Middle East and beyond alongside calls for a ceasefire, after international mediators invited the warring sides to resume talks towards a long-sought truce and hostage-release deal.

Civil defence rescuers in the Hamas ruled territory said three Israeli missiles hit the complex in Gaza City while people were performing dawn prayers.

The military confirmed it had used “three precise munitions”.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defence agency, said 11 children and six women were among the 93 who died at the school shelter, “and there are many unidentified body parts”.

“They dropped a missile on them while they were just praying,” said one woman, mourning over a dead child shrouded in a plastic body bag.

Israel’s military said it had “precisely struck” Al-Tabieen, later adding that intelligence suggested “at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were eliminated”.

Hamas denounced it as a “dangerous escalation”, while the Palestinian group’s Lebanese ally Hezbollah called it a “horrific massacre”.

Iran, which backs both militant groups and had accused Israel of wanting to spread war in the Middle East following high-profile killings in Tehran and Beirut, condemned what it called a “barbaric attack”.

“Those who were inside the mosque were all killed,” said local resident Abu Wassim. “Even the floor above, where women and children were sleeping, was completely burned.”

With nearly all of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4million people displaced at least once during the war, many have sought refuge in school buildings, which have been hit at least 14 times since July 6, according to an AFP tally.

Cape Times