JERUSALEM: Israel sent tanks back into the greater Khan Younis area and at least 49 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, Gaza medics said on Monday, after ordering evacuations of some districts it said had been used for renewed attacks by Hamas.
The Palestinians were killed by tank salvoes in the town of Bani Suhaila and other towns fringing the eastern side of Khan Younis, with the area also bombarded by air, they said.
Residents of the densely built-up area of southern Gaza said the tanks advanced for more than two kilometres into Bani Suhaila, forcing residents to flee under fire.
“It is like doomsday,” one resident, who only identified himself as Abu Khaled, told Reuters via chat app. “People are fleeing under fire, many are dead and wounded on the roads.”
The Gaza health ministry said the dead included several women and children and that at least 186 other people had been injured by Israeli fire. The Gaza ministry does not distinguish between civilians in its death tallies.
Around 400,000 people are living in the targeted areas and dozens of families have begun to leave their houses, Palestinian officials said, adding they were not given time to get out of harm’s way before the Israeli strikes began.
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Some families fled on donkey carts, others on foot, carrying mattresses and other belongings.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two of its clinics located in eastern Khan Younis had been knocked out of operation because of the new Israeli offensive.
At Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, some people stood outside the morgue to bid farewell to dead relatives.
“We are tired, we are tired in Gaza, every day our children are martyred, every day, every moment,” said Ahmed Sammour, who
lost several relatives in bombings of eastern Khan Younis.
“No one told us to evacuate. They brought four floors crashing down on civilians… and the bodies they could reach, they brought to the refrigerator (morgue),” Sammour added.
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