Gazans forced to flee Khan Younis as Israel strikes south of enclave

People were seen sleeping on the streets after being ordered to leave their homes ahead of another Israeli military operation

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Heavy Israeli bombardment killed at least ten people and injured dozens in southern Gaza on Tuesday after the military ordered civilians to leave eastern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah.

Hundreds of people began leaving densely populated areas in and around Khan Younis city overnight after being told to move west immediately to a designated “humanitarian zone” along Gaza's coast. Large numbers were seen leaving the eastern and southern areas and heading towards the centre and west of the city. Some slept on the streets as they had no place to go.

The injured were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, medical sources told The National.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its Al Amal Hospital was overcrowded with people.

Ahmad Al Buraim, from east of Khan Younis, spent his night on the street.

“We don’t know where to go, where to take the children and women, no one cares about us” Mr Al Buraim told The National.

He fled more than seven times since the war started in early October, and says he has no place to go.

“We suddenly found rockets falling on us, there is no safety anywhere, and we are neglected with no one attempting to help us,” he added.

The war, now in its ninth month, has drained all of Mr Al Buraim's life savings and he is now struggling to feed his children, he says.

Ghalia Abu Yonis, 40, has six children. They are fleeing for the fourth time from the southern city.

“The first time I fled at the beginning of the war and came to Nasser hospital after my son was injured,” Ms Abu Yonis told The National.

“The situation is not easy. We left our homes and everything behind because we received calls from the Israeli army that told us to flee the area. We didn’t know what to do,” she said.

Ms Abu Yonis went back to Khan Younis following the withdrawal of Israeli forces and she stayed in a tent inside a school.

“I don't know where we should go now.”

The journey for Fidaa Abu Tair, 41, has also been difficult. She left her home in Khan Younis at the beginning of the war and went to a UN-backed school, then fled to Al Mawasi in Rafah, and now she is back in Khan Younis.

“What we experienced is not easy, we left our homes with nothing with us, we went through the passage that was made by the Israeli army, we walked in front of Israeli tanks and our children were so afraid,” she told The National.

“It is hard to force our children to walk near Israeli tanks,” she said.

“What else shall we go through till the end of the war? What more do we have to experience, they killed our souls and left us with bodies only.”

Her home in Khan Younis was partially destroyed. She returned there after Israeli soldiers withdrew and decided to stay there and fix it rather than stay in an overcrowded school.

“Now I am fleeing again without knowing where to go with my seven children,” she said.

The military's latest evacuation order in its nearly nine-month offensive in the Palestinian enclave was issued after a militant group fired rockets at Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad which has fought Israeli forces alongside Hamas, said the attack was carried out in response to Israel's “crimes … against our Palestinian people”.

The Israeli army said “about 20 projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Khan Younis”, most of which were intercepted. No casualties were reported.

The evacuation order applied to Al Qarara, Bani Suhaila, Al Fokhari and other towns in Rafah and Khan Younis. It comes days after residents of Al Shujaiyah in northern Gaza were to told leave ahead of a military operation in the area, and nearly two months after the army issued evacuation orders for Rafah before beginning a major offensive that has displaced more than a million people – nearly half of Gaza's population.

Medical teams at the European Hospital in Al Fokhari began transferring patients to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. Although the army did not specifically order the hospital to be emptied, its location in evacuation zone raised concerns among staff.

The European Hospital is one of the few hospitals still functioning in the strip as most were heavily damaged in Israeli raids and medical and fuel supplies remain scarce.