Civilians Told to Evacuate Southern Gaza Towns Amidst Fears of Escalation

Civilians in four towns at the eastern edge of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza, received instructions to leave the area as war threatens to spread south.

The warning came through leaflets dropped overnight over the towns of Bani Shuhaila, Khuzaa, Abassan and Qarara, raising fears of further escalations.

“The acts of Hamas terrorist group require the defence forces to act against them in the areas of your residence,” the leaflets read. “For your safety, you need to evacuate your places of residence immediately and head to known shelters.”

Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza at the very start of the attack, telling civilians to head south. According to UN OCHA, 1.5million people of the 2.3million in Gaza are now ‘internally displaced’. The vast majority fled south, where they survive in precarious and cramped conditions.

Earlier this week, heavy rain in southern Gaza made the situation even more dire for thousands of displaced civilians currently living in tents and other makeshift accommodations. An estimated 813,000 are inside UN-run facilities, which are operating well beyond capacity.

The Al-Shifa Raid

While are reports of bombings south of the evacuation zone, the majority of Israel’s firepower focused on the north. The Al-Shifa hospital became the focus in Gaza City, as Israeli intelligence believed Hamas had crucial headquarters in tunnels beneath the hospital. The United States’ intelligence supported their findings, while Hamas denied the accusations.

Medical personnel, patients and thousands of other civilians sheltered inside the besieged hospital, with both power and vital supplies running low and unable to dispose of bodies. The IDF gained entry on Wednesday in what they described as “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa hospital, based on intelligence information and an operational necessity”.

The IDF added that evidence to support the presence of a Hamas command in the hospital was found, and that it will publish proof at a later time. So far, they have published footage of firearms reportedly found in the hospital.

Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch, commented, “There would need to be extraordinarily important Hamas military facilities under al-Shifa hospital – not just more tunnels through which Hamas troops can slip away – to justify this huge intrusion on urgently needed healthcare for Palestinian civilians.”

He added, “Israel will have to come up with a lot more than a handful of ‘grab and go’ rifles to justify shutting down northern Gaza’s hospitals with its enormous cost for a civilian population with urgent medical needs.”

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