Israel expanded its evacuation orders in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, overnight. Tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families were forced to flee in the dark, with explosions from tank shelling echoing around them.
The Israeli military stated that it was targeting militants from Hamas, the group that governed Gaza before the war, who were allegedly using the areas to launch attacks and fire rockets.
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City resulted in the deaths of more than 100, according to the civil defense service. This incident has sparked international condemnation. The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted a command post used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, leading to the deaths of 19 militants. However, both groups dismissed this claim as a pretext.
In Khan Younis, the evacuation orders covered central, eastern, and western districts, marking one of the largest evacuation instructions issued during the 10-month conflict. This came two days after tanks re-entered the eastern parts of the city.
The evacuation notice was communicated through posts on X and via text and audio messages sent to residents’ phones. The message urged residents to evacuate immediately to a newly established humanitarian zone, warning that their current location was considered a dangerous combat zone.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), expressed concern that people in Gaza were trapped with no safe place to go. He highlighted the dire situation, noting that some people could only carry their children, while others carried their entire lives in a single small bag. Many were heading to overcrowded shelters already struggling to accommodate the displaced population.
The Israeli military reported that it had targeted around 30 Hamas military sites within the previous 24 hours. These included military structures, anti-tank missile launch posts, and weapons storage facilities. Meanwhile, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad stated that its fighters had fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces gathering in eastern Khan Younis.
Later on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike near the Khan Younis market in the city center killed four Palestinians and injured several others, according to medics. Smoke was seen rising from areas where Israeli planes had launched attacks in both the eastern and western parts of the city. Residents reported that two multi-story buildings were bombed.
Since the conflict began in October, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry. While Gaza health officials claim that most of the casualties are civilians, Israel asserts that at least one-third of the fatalities are fighters. Israel has reported the loss of 329 soldiers in the conflict.
Israel’s offensive on Gaza began after Hamas fighters launched an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing over 250 hostages, based on Israeli reports.
The United Nations estimates that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced from their homes, with their once narrow strip of land now largely reduced to rubble. Palestinian and United Nations officials warn that there are no safe areas left in Gaza, and even designated humanitarian zones, such as Al-Mawasi in western Khan Younis, have been bombed multiple times by Israeli forces.
As a result of the evacuation orders, tens of thousands of people left their homes and shelters in the middle of the night, moving westward towards Mawasi and northward to Deir Al-Balah. These areas were already overcrowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
