Israel widens evacuation order as it shifts offensive to south Gaza, Hamas government says 700 killed
- Israel’s military has ordered more areas in and around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it continues in its quest to root out militants
- Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the 2-month-old war
Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours have claimed the lives of 700 people, a spokesman for the Hamas government said on Sunday.
There was no independent verification of the press office statement.
The spokesman said many of the dead were lying under rubble, and that rescuers were experiencing great difficulty in reaching the injured and taking them to hospital.
On Sunday, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) called in Arabic on residents to leave specified areas in the south of the Gaza Strip and to go to designated areas, as IDF aerial bombardments hit targets in both the north and the south following the end of the truce.
Israel’s military ordered more locations in and around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it says many Hamas leaders are hiding.
Heavy bombardments were reported overnight and into Sunday in the area of Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, as well as parts of the north that had been the focus of Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign.
Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the 2-month-old war.