Image source, Reuters
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- Author, Redacción*
- Author's title, BBC News World
The Israel Army issued evacuation orders for a crowded part of Gaza Central where it has not yet launched a land offensive in the 21 months of its war against Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (FDI) announced this Sunday that displaced residents and Palestinians who take refuge in the city of Deir Al-Balah must immediately evacuate and move towards Al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast.
The evacuation order, which could mean an imminent attack, has caused generalized panic among the tens of thousands of Palestinians, as well as among the families of Israeli hostages who fear for the lives of their relatives retained in that city.
The IDF performed air attacks in the area, but have not yet deployed soldiers.
On Sunday, the Israeli army launched ballots from the sky ordering the population in several districts in the southwest of Deir Al-Balah to leave their homes and move further to the south.
“Defense forces (from Israel) continue to operate with great force to destroy the ability of the enemy and terrorist infrastructure in the area,” said the army, adding that they had not yet penetrated those districts during the war.
The affected areas of Deir Al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in tents.
Israeli sources communicated to the Reuters news agency that the reason why the army has remained away from these districts so far because they suspect that Hamas could be retaining hostages there.
It is believed that at least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are still alive.
The majority of the population of two million of the strip has necessarily been displaced at least once during the Israel War against Hamas, with repeated evacuation orders for large parts of the territory.
Deaths almost daily in assistance centers
The new evacuation order occurs after the Shifa hospital officials in Gaza City said that more than 40 people were dead and tens wounded by Israeli fire when the crowds were crowded to wait for the entrance of UN assistance trucks on Sunday morning.
The hospitals in the South said that more people were also dead in assistance sites of the controversial Humanitarian Foundation of Gaza (FHG), supported by the US and Israel, near Kahn Younis and Rafah.
The FHG stated that no incidents had occurred “near or” its sites, but that there was “Activity of the Israel Defense Forces (FDI)” hours before their sites opened.
The IDF then informed the BBC that their soldiers fired warning shots to prevent “suspects” from approaching them.
However, a witness assured the Reuters agency that the Israeli fire seemed to have the “goal of killing.”
“They were not shots to scare or organize us, they were shots with the intention of killing us. If they had wanted to organize, they would have done it, but wanted to kill us.”
The BBC has contacted the Israeli army in search of answers.
Image source, Getty Images
This Sunday, Pope Leo XIV urged the “immediate end to the barbarity of war” and urged “indiscriminate use of force.”
The UN says that civilians in Gaza are going through a famine and has called for the urgent entry of essential articles.
But almost daily there have been reports of dead Palestinians when they have gone in search of assistance since the FHG began operations at the end of May. Witnesses say that most have been killed by Israeli forces. Israel argues that the new distribution system prevents assistance from arriving in Hamas.
Israel launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the armed incursion headed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, where some 1,200 people killed and took 251 hostages.
Since then, Israel's attacks have killed more than 58,895 people in Gaza. These figures from the Ministry of Health of Gaza are cited by the UN and other organizations such as the most reliable source of statistics available on the casualties.
*With information from Yolande Knell and Emir Nader in Jerusalem and Tom McCarthur, BBC News, London
