TSAHL issued a statement that Hamas representatives are hiding in the area.
The Israeli command ordered the temporary evacuation of residents living in part of the humanitarian zone in the south of the Gaza Strip before a military operation against Palestinian armed groups.
Israel has carried out several airstrikes in the area in the past two weeks, killing a total of 90 Palestinian civilians, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said. According to Israel, the attacks were aimed at parts of the militant wing of Hamas.
BBC according to reports, the Israeli army (TsAHAL) is now apparently ready to move into the ground phase of the military operation in the area and is asking civilians to leave the dangerous area.
A humanitarian zone was demarcated by Israel in October 2023: there was no fighting and humanitarian aid was provided. Palestinians living in the northern part of the sector were asked to evacuate to this zone.
But now, according to the Israeli army, Hamas militants have settled in the suburb of Khan Younis, which is part of the safe zone, and are launching rocket and artillery attacks against the Israeli army from there.
On July 22, Israel announced that the humanitarian zone had been narrowed to the al-Mawasi area and that residents should be evacuated in that direction.
Shortly after the evacuation was announced, the Gaza Health Ministry reported 14 people, including six children and four women, in an Israeli attack in the suburb of Khan Yunis.
Khan Yunis is the second largest city in the Gaza Strip. At the start of the Israeli military operation, thousands of residents from the northern areas of the region were evacuated to the south, including Khan Yunis. In May of this year, the city received tens of thousands more as fighting moved into the southernmost province of Rafah. All were now ordered to move along the coast of the city of Deir al-Balah in the central part of the sector.
The UN warns that the area is already overcrowded. People live in makeshift tent camps without basic equipment.
