KHAN YUNIS: 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 fighters 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 area of Khan Yunis, which was already considered a humanitarian safe zone.
The military warned Al-Jalaa will become a “dangerous combat zone”, forcing Palestinians already displaced numerous times by the Gaza war to pack up and leave looking for a new shelter.
Families gathered their meagre belongings and left the area, fearing fresh missile strikes and fighting, AFP journalists reported.
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Crowds of people, mainly from the Hamad neighbourhood in Al-Jalaa, left with whatever they could lay their hands on, some loading mattresses, clothing and cooking utensils into pick-up trucks, while others simply walked with their bags.
Young men and women escorted elderly family members, while others tried to catch a ride to safer zones.
“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.
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Khan Yunis, Gaza’s main southern governorate, had already 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 75,000 people have been displaced in southwest Gaza,” said on X Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.
Lazzarini said the new evacuation orders sent many people fleeing from the early hours of Sunday.
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