Thousands flee their homes as Israeli forces bomb southern Gaza

Some 250,000 Palestinians have fled Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following evacuation orders from the Israeli military. Residents fled in cars and on foot and medical staff and patients also left the European Gaza Hospital in the area, although Israel said there was no need to do so.

At least eight residents were killed after Israeli forces resumed attacks on Gaza’s second largest city in response to the firing of 20 rockets and mortar shells from the area into southern Israel on Monday – the largest militant attack in months.

United Nations secretary general António Guterres responded to the latest evacuation order by saying no place is safe in Gaza for Palestinian civilians. “It’s another stop in this deadly circular movement that the population in Gaza has to undergo on a regular basis,” he said in a statement calling for a ceasefire.

Palestinian sources also reported that at least 10 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of eastern Gaza city, and clashes also continued in Rafah, the Gaza city neighbourhood of Sejaieh and in central Gaza.

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Thousands flee their homes as Israeli forces bomb southern Gaza

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Israeli right-wing ministers criticised the decision to repair electric wires in Gaza ahead of connecting them to the Israeli electric grid to renew operation of a water desalination and sewage plant close to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. “We completely lost our minds. We are rehabilitating Gaza with our own hands before its demilitarisation,” said finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. “Stop this folly.”

Security officials said the operation was being carried out to prevent contamination and the outbreak of disease that could also endanger Israeli soldiers, and in accordance with humanitarian measures ahead of the International Court of Justice’s decision in The Hague over war crimes allegations.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu reacted on Tuesday to a New York Times report stating that top Israeli generals want a “ceasefire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being”, saying: “That’s not happening. We will only end the war after we have achieved all of its goals, including defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages.”

According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 37,900 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7th. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages seized in the surprise Hamas attack on that day. It says 120 hostages remain in Hamas captivity but it is not known how many are alive.

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Tuesday for intelligence chief Ronen Bar, head of the Israel security agency Shin Bet, to resign over the release this week after seven months in detention of Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital director Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya. Mr Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant both denied prior knowledge of the release.

Security officials said he was released, together with dozens of other Gaza detainees, due to an acute shortage of cells for prisoners after the large-scale arrests of Gaza and West Bank Palestinians during the war. In response to the incident, Mr Netanyahu set up a taskforce that will review and permit the release of all future detainees.

On Israel’s northern border daily attacks continue between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in south Lebanon. According to Germany’s Bild newspaper, Israeli forces are set to launch a ground operation against Hizbullah later this month, saying a date for the operation has already been set. Lufthansa, Germany’s national airline carrier, announced on Monday the suspension of its flights to Beirut, and last week the German embassy urged its citizens to leave the country.