- Author, Sebastian Usher
- Role, BBC News
- Report by Jerusalem
Palestinians fled neighborhoods east of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second city, after Israel issued evacuation orders.
Throughout the night and into the early morning, witnesses reported multiple Israeli strikes in and around Khan Younis. A medical source and the Palestinian Red Crescent said eight people were killed and more than 30 injured.
Patients and medical staff also left the European Hospital in Gaza in the area, as the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza ordered them to evacuate.
The Israeli army itself did not issue an order to evacuate the hospital.
The Red Cross reportedly helped patients being transferred to another hospital.
Louise Wateridge, an official with the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, asked where people could go as they were forced to leave their homes again.
“In this area, people were already forced to survive in severely damaged, destroyed and structurally unsafe buildings after the Rafah military operation,” she said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement on its latest operation in Gaza, saying it was responding to around 20 projectiles launched from the Khan Yunis area towards Israel on Monday.
“During the night, the Israeli army struck terrorist targets in the area from which the projectiles were fired, including a weapons storage center, operational centers and other terrorist infrastructure sites,” he continued.
The Israeli military said Hamas continued to “systematically violate international law while using civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields.”
The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it carried out Monday’s attack, the largest assault on Israel from Gaza in months.
Much of Khan Younis was destroyed in a prolonged Israeli offensive against Hamas earlier this year.
The town to which some of its residents later returned is almost unrecognizable. Yet many returned to seek refuge in Rafah, where the Israeli offensive was located.
Today, many are on the move again, fearing another major attack.
