July 3, 2024
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli army ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from much of Khan Younis on Monday, a sign that troops are likely to launch a new ground assault in the Gaza Strip’s second largest city.
The order suggested Khan Younis will be the target in the latest of Israel’s repeated raids into parts of Gaza it had previously invaded during the past nearly nine months, pursuing Hamas militants as they regroup. Much of Khan Younis was already destroyed in a long assault earlier this year, but large numbers of Palestinians have since moved back in to escape another Israeli offensive in Gaza’s southern-most city, Rafah.
Monday’s evacuation call covered the entire eastern half of Khan Younis and a large swath of the Gaza Strip’s southeast corner. Earlier in the day, the army said a barrage of rockets out of Gaza was fired from Khan Younis.
The order suggested a new assault into the city was imminent. Israeli forces fought for weeks in Khan Younis earlier this year and withdrew, claiming to have destroyed Hamas battalions in the city. But in other places where the military made similar claims, renewed raids have underscored Hamas’ continued capabilities.
Last week, the military ordered an evacuation from the north Gaza district of Shijaiya, where there has been intensive fighting since.
Netanyahu said Monday that the military was “making progress toward ending the phase of the destruction of Hamas’ terror army.” But he said forces will continue to “target their remains going forward.”
An evacuation and eruption of fighting in the Khan Younis area could further hamper Palestinians’ access to much-needed potable water. Included in the evacuation zone is a water line that Israel installed following criticism over its cutoff of water to the strip early in its campaign.
Also in the zone is the area surrounding the Kerem Shalom crossing, the major aid crossing to southern Gaza, as well as an aid route that Israel said it would safeguard to allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the strip. Very little aid has entered the strip due to lawlessness along the aid route, and a new offensive would risk further harming aid efforts.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people across southern Israel and took another 250 hostage.
