Deir al-Ballah, Gaza Strip: The Israeli army ordered further evacuations from southern Gaza early Sunday after a deadly airstrike killed at least 80 Palestinians at a northern school turned shelter, local health officials said. Israel said it targeted a militant command post, killing at least 19 militants.
Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its military returns to heavily damaged areas where it previously fought Palestinian militants. Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times during the 10-month war.
Hundreds of thousands have been crammed into shabby tent camps with few public services or have sought refuge in places like the school that was attacked on Saturday. Palestinians say they do not feel safe anywhere in the besieged territory.
The latest evacuation order applies to Khan Yunis, which includes part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, where the military said rockets were fired. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
Khan Yunis, Gaza's second-largest city, suffered widespread destruction from airstrikes and ground bombing earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people fled again last week after an evacuation order was issued.
Hundreds of families fled their homes and shelters early Sunday morning, clutching their belongings and seeking refuge in the shadows.
“I don’t know where to go,” said Amal Abu Yahia, a mother of three who returned to Khan Younis in June to seek refuge in her badly damaged home. “This is my fourth displacement,” said the 42-year-old widow, whose husband was killed when an Israeli airstrike hit her neighbor’s house in March.
She said she went to Muwashi, a large tent camp spread along the coast, but couldn't find space.
Ramadan Issa, a father of five in his 50s, left Khan Yunis with 17 of his family members and joined hundreds of others walking toward central Gaza early Sunday morning.
“Every time we settle down in one place and build tents for women and children, the occupying forces come and bomb the area,” he said, referring to Israel. “This is unacceptable.”
The Gaza Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month war was approaching 40,000, but did not say how many were combatants. Aid agencies are struggling to address the region’s massive humanitarian crisis, and international experts have warned of famine.
The war began on October 7, when Hamas-led militants breached Israeli defenses and ransacked rural areas and military bases near the border, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250.
The US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying for months to broker a ceasefire and the return of the remaining 110 hostages, of whom Israeli authorities believe about a third have died. Meanwhile, the conflict threatens to spark a regional war as Israel trades fire with Iran and its armed allies across the region.
Saturday's airstrikes hit a mosque inside a school in Gaza City where thousands of people were taking refuge. The Gaza Health Ministry said 80 people were killed and about 50 were wounded. The Israeli military denied the death toll, saying the precise airstrikes killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.
The Gaza Strip and the northern area have been under Israeli siege since late last year and are largely cut off from the world, and details of the airstrikes could not be independently confirmed.
The UN human rights office said Israel had carried out “systematic attacks” on schools used as shelters since the start of the war, with at least 21 attacks since July 4 killing hundreds of people, including women and children.
European leaders condemned the strike, and the United States expressed concern over reports of civilian casualties. “Once again, far too many civilians have died,” Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters traveling with her in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday.
“We need hostage negotiations, we need a ceasefire,” she said. “Negotiations need to happen and they need to happen now.”
