KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated a humanitarian zone and said it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp there thousands seek shelter.
The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says is coming from the area. It is the second evacuation in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted several times in search of safety during Israel’s punitive air and ground campaign.
On Monday, following the evacuation order, several Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.
The area is part of a 60 square kilometer (about 20 square miles) “humanitarian zone” where Israel has told Palestinians to flee throughout the war. Much of the area is covered in tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, the UN and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are taking shelter there, according to Israeli estimates. That’s more than half of Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that around 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have increased since then.
The war began with an attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
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