Israel has been urged by UN and US officials to avoid a repeat of the devastating impact that its operations in northern Gaza had on civilians as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) expanded its ground offensive against Hamas further south to the city of Khan Younis.
Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA), said on Monday the expansion of military operations in southern Gaza was “repeating horrors from past weeks” by displacing people who had already been displaced, overcrowding hospitals and further “strangling the humanitarian operation” due to limited supplies.
On Monday, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of the city of Khan Younis, advising Palestinians to head further south to Rafah, as dozens of Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers entered the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis. Witnesses said Israeli military vehicles were on the southern section of the main north-to-south road in Gaza, “firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area”.
Israel claims the city is a Hamas stronghold and where its top commanders are believed to be hiding out. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Khan Younis after fleeing from fighting in the north. About 1.8 million people in Gaza, or roughly 75% of the population, have been displaced, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
Some Israeli hostages are believed to be held in and around Khan Younis. Israel has divided the area into “blocks”, indicating on social media and websites which are at risk of airstrikes. It has dropped thousands of leaflets with QR codes linking to websites.
Lazzarini said the evacuation order for parts of Khan Younis had “created panic, fear and anxiety” and had forced 60,000 more people into UNRWA shelters that were already overcrowded. He urged Israel to open more crossings to help lifesaving humanitarian assistance to get through.
US state department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Monday the US was “watching very closely” to see that there was no repeat of the civilian casualties and mass displacement seen in the north.
“We have made clear to Israel is that we expect them to comply with international humanitarian law and do everything they can to minimise civilian harm so we don’t see a repeat in the south of what we saw in the north,” he said.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington expected Israel to avoid attacking areas identified as “no-strike” zones in Gaza and that the US had discussed with Israel how long the war with Hamas should continue, but he declined to share the timeline.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, appealed to Israel to avoid further action that would make the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza even worse. “The secretary general is extremely alarmed by the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas ... For people ordered to evacuate, there is nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Israeli tanks have driven into Gaza across the border and cut off the main north-south route, residents said. The Israeli military said the central road out of Khan Younis to the north “constitutes a battlefield” and was now shut.
A senior Israeli official said it was taking the time to order more precise evacuations in order to limit civilian casualties, but that Israel could not rule them out altogether. “We did not start this war. We regret civilian casualties but when you want to face evil, you have to operate,” the official said.
Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, a programme officer for the NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians, who was also in Khan Younis said: “The Israeli military meant it when they said Khan Younis would be a battlefield. Most of our friends who had escaped Gaza City with us were forced again today to escape their shelters in the south of the strip and find ‘safer’ places. Barely has any kind of aid been delivered to people, nor is there any food left in shops. We are now bartering for things like flour, salt or yeast.”
Israel is under mounting diplomatic pressure to avoid civilian deaths in its military operation in Gaza. At least 50 people were killed in an airstrike that hit two schools sheltering displaced families in northern Gaza on Monday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel launched its assault to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for a cross-border attack on 7 October on border towns, kibbutzim and a music festival. The militants killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies – the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.
The Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry says almost 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory attacks, about 70% of them women and children. They say thousands more are missing and feared buried in rubble, with about 900 killed since the truce ended on Friday.
With Reuters