The attacks and evacuations, in an area where many people sought refuge during the Rafah offensive, “are another devastating blow to the humanitarian response.”
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Some 250,000 people have fled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis following fresh Israeli orders to withdraw, as the city comes under renewed bombardment, the UN said Tuesday.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Many of those who left the southern Gaza Strip fled to the western coast.said UN spokesperson Louise Wateridge in a video conference with UN-accredited media in Geneva.
“We saw many families packing their belongings and trying to leave the area,” he said, reiterating the impossibility for many of them to move to truly safe areas in the Gaza Strip, where attacks can occur anywhere in the Palestinian enclave.
The attacks and evacuations, in an area where many people sought refuge during the offensives in Rafah, further south, near the border with Egypt, “are another devastating blow to the humanitarian response”, as populations “are forced to move again and again.”
The Israeli army shelled the area east of Khan Younis on Monday night. killing at least eight people and injuring 30 othersaccording to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The withdrawal order opens the door to a possible Israeli ground military operation in the city, which would mean the return of troops to Rafah since they abandoned it on April 7, when the Palestinian militias were considered neutralized.
Source: Observadora
