The Israeli military on Friday urged residents of northern Khan Younis and eastern Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip to flee before a new military operation begins there, after rockets and mortars were fired into Israel from the area.
“The Hamas terrorist organization has set up terrorist infrastructure in an area designated as a humanitarian zone,” the military said on Telegram.
Residents of the area were urged through leaflets, text messages, phone calls and media reports in Arabic to relocate to a humanitarian zone whose borders have been redrawn.
The army said the Palestinian Islamist Hamas organization fired rockets toward Israel from Khan Younis on Thursday.
It was said that civilians were warned in advance ‘to limit harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone.’
Khan Younis is located in the southern Gaza Strip, while Deir al-Balah is in the center of the area. The humanitarian zone, which stretches between the two locations in the western Gaza Strip, is currently being adjusted, the army added. An army map shows the area shrinking and several neighborhoods no longer part of the zone.
The fighting in Gaza continues, the army said, with the air force striking more than 30 targets, including military installations, in the coastal area on Thursday.
The war was sparked by the massacre perpetrated in Israel on October 7 by Hamas terrorists and other extremist groups. The high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population have led to sharp international criticism of Israel’s actions.
