Gazans flee after Israel orders safe zone evacuation over rockets

Thousands of panicked Gazans fled after the Israeli military showered Khan Yunis with leaflets ordering evacuation on Monday, warning it was preparing to launch an operation in part of a former humanitarian area.

The military had declared Al-Mawasi, along the Gaza coast between the cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah, a safe zone in May, and told Palestinians to relocate there.

But it has now ordered people to leave part of the zone in eastern Khan Yunis city that it says militants have been using to launch attacks on Israeli targets.

The military said the evacuation was due to "significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the state of Israel from the eastern part of the humanitarian area", making it too "dangerous" to remain.

In a statement, it urged people to relocate from eastern Khan Yunis to the west of the "adjusted humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi" that runs along the Gaza coast.

Many Gazans are hesitant to join the swelling tent camps in Al-Mawasi, however, after a recent attack on the zone killed at least 92 people and wounded more than 300, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

"No place is safe," said Yussef Abu Taimah, from the town of Al-Qarara in Khan Yunis, as he prepared to relocate his family for the fourth time since the Gaza war broke out in October.

"We left in the middle of ongoing air and tank shelling, and drones firing shots," said the 27-year-old, who witnessed dead and wounded people being transported to Nasser Hospital by tuk-tuks and donkey carts.

Abu Taimah said his family expected to find no space for them in the crowded safe zone.

"We will stay on the street," he said. "Even the sidewalks are full of people and tents. We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement."

Ahmed al-Bayuk, 53, said each of his three displacements has been harder than the last.

"We barely settle for a few days before the army comes, bombs, displaces us and destroys more," he said. "Where should we go? Every place is at risk of bombing."

- 'Tired and fed up' -

In recent months the Israeli army has launched intense military operations in several areas of Gaza that were previously declared free of Hamas militants.

Earlier this year it carried out a sweeping operation in Khan Yunis for months that reduced swathes of the city to rubble and displaced tens of thousands of people.

Hassan Qudayh said the renewed Israel bombardment on eastern Khan Yunis surprised his family at breakfast.

"We had been safe for a month, only to be stunned by shells, warning leaflets and martyrs in the streets," he said. "We went out in panic."

The health ministry in Gaza said at least 70 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Israeli army operations in Khan Yunis since Monday morning, based on arrivals at Nasser Hospital.

Hospital director Mohammad Zaqout said there was no space for patients and few medical supplies as doctors treated "dozens" of dead and wounded, and that the situation in the emergency department was difficult.

"There is no final statistic yet, but the number (of deaths) is increasing, and most of the injuries are serious," he told AFP.

The war in Gaza broke out after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,006 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.