Israel army orders Gazans to leave part of Khan Yunis after rocket fire

The Israeli military on Monday ordered Gazans to leave the eastern part of Khan Yunis city, saying it was preparing to “forcefully operate” there after rockets were fired from an area designated as a humanitarian zone.

“Due to significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the state of Israel from the eastern part of the humanitarian area, remaining in this area has become dangerous,” the military said in a statement.

“The IDF (Israeli army) is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organisations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi.”

In recent months the Israeli army has launched intense military operations in several areas of Gaza that were previously declared free of Hamas.

On Monday, it prepared to launch an operation in parts of Khan Yunis governorate, whose namesake city is the largest in the Palestinian territory’s south.

Youssef Abu Taimah, from the town of Al-Qarara in Khan Yunis, told AFP Monday that this evacuation order was the fourth time his family was displaced.

“We left amidst ongoing air and tank shelling, and drones firing shots,” said the 27-year-old, who saw “injured and dead people transported by tuk-tuk (three-wheeled motorcycle) and donkey cart to Nasser Hospital” on the way.

‘Tired and fed up’

Abu Taimah said his family headed to the humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi, but found there was no space for them in the crowded makeshift encampment.

“We will stay on the street, and even the sidewalks are full of people and tents. We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement.”

Ahmed al-Bayouk, a 53-year-old man from Khan Yunis, felt similar despair.

“Al-Mawasi is packed with people. There is no empty space,” said Bayouk, who was displaced for the third time, “each time harder than the last”.

“We barely settle for a few days before the army comes, bombs, displaces us, and destroys more,” he told AFP.

“Where should we go? Every place is at risk of bombing.”

Earlier this year the military had carried out a sweeping operation in Khan Yunis for months that saw swathes of the city reduced to rubble and tens of thousands of people displaced to a nearby humanitarian zone.

“At this time, the humanitarian area will be adjusted,” the military said as it ordered the latest evacuation in Khan Yunis Monday.

“The adjustment is being carried out in accordance with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has embedded terrorist infrastructure in the area defined as the humanitarian area.”

The health ministry in Gaza said that at least 14 people had been killed in Israeli army operations in Khan Yunis since this morning.

The war in Gaza broke out after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 38,983 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.