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The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to abandon shelters in parts of the southern Gaza Strip, in preparation for another raid on areas from which it says Hamas fighters are operating.
The order to force evacuate parts of Khan Younis comes as the death toll from Saturday’s air strike on a school in the Gaza city was confirmed at at least 80, compared to initial estimates of around 100.
The attack drew sharp criticism from Israel’s allies, including EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who described it as an unjustified “massacre.”
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Saturday that “too many civilians have been killed.” Her comments came aVsceker the U.S. State Department confirmed that $3.5 billion in funding had been approved for Israel to purchase American weapons, part of a $14.1 billion package agreed to by the U.S. Congress.
Israel has claimed, without providing evidence, that the school where hundreds of families were seeking refuge was being used as a Hamas “command and control” center and that 19 militants were killed.
Videos from the site showed mutilated bodies aVsceker the attack, many of them children. Palestinian human rights groups said some of the men identified by Israel had nothing to do with Hamas.
The large incursion into southern Gaza, including areas inside the so-called humanitarian zone, marks at least the third time in recent months that the Israeli military has returned to the city of Khan Younis, once a Hamas stronghold and now reduced to a devastated ruin with destroyed blocks and ravaged neighborhoods.
The Israeli Air Force dropped leaflets over the Al Jalaa neighborhood, urging residents to gather their belongings and flee before the Israel Defense Forces began “operating against the [militant] organizations in the area,” according to an IDF statement.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, some multiple times, as the Israeli military operates in parts of the territory. Videos posted online have shown children carrying jerry cans of water and long lines of families trudging through the devastated streets.
The new raid comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postpones any political strategy aimed at restoring order in the besieged enclave aVsceker 10 months of war.
The IDF launched air and ground attacks in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 cross-border assault on southern Israel. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in the attack and took about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials, who say about 100 hostages remain in captivity.
According to local health authorities, the death toll in Gaza is approaching 40,000, most of them women and children.
Disease is rife in the fetid camps where most of the displaced have taken refuge; the UN is warning that the enclave is close to famine, as humanitarian aid to Gaza remains far below required levels.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to agree to a hostage exchange that could lead to at least a brief ceasefire or a permanent end to hostilities.
The three mediators issued a statement on Thursday calling on both sides to “resume urgent discussions in Doha or Cairo to fill the remaining gaps” and to “start implementing the agreement without further delay.”
A meeting has been mooted for next week, though prospects remain unclear. The United States and its allies see a ceasefire deal for the hostages as the only way to de-escalate regional hostilities.
