DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza early Sunday after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 80 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Israel said it attacked a militant command post and killed 19 fighters.
Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops returned to badly destroyed areas where they had previously fought Palestinian militants. The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced. for the 10 month waroften several times.
Hundreds of thousands of people have crowded into squalid tent camps with few public services or sought refuge in schools like the one that was attacked Saturday. Palestinians say no part of the besieged territory feels safe.
The latest evacuation orders apply to areas of Khan Younis, including part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone from where the military said rockets had been fired. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza, suffered widespread destruction during an air and ground offensive earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people fled again last week after an earlier evacuation order.
Hundreds of families carrying their belongings in their arms left their homes and shelters early Sunday in search of an elusive refuge.
“We don’t know where to go,” said Amal Abu Yahia, a mother of three, who had returned to Khan Younis in June to take shelter in her badly damaged home. “This is my fourth displacement,” said the 42-year-old widow, whose husband was killed when an Israeli airstrike hit her neighbor’s home in March.
He said they went to Muwasi, a sprawling tent camp along the coast, but couldn’t find space.
Ramadan Issa, a father of five in his 50s, fled Khan Younis with 17 members of his extended family and joined hundreds of people walking towards central Gaza on Sunday morning.
“Every time we settle in a place and build tents for women and children, the occupation comes and bombs the area,” he said, referring to Israel. “This situation is unbearable.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll in the 10-month-old war is approaching 40,000, without saying how many were combatants. Aid groups have struggled to address the staggering humanitarian crisis in the territory, while international experts They have warned of famine.
The war began when Hamas-led militants breached Israel’s defenses on October 7 and rampaged through farming communities and military bases near the border, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250 people.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been trying for months to mediate a ceasefire and the return of the approximately 110 remaining hostagesabout a third of whom Israeli authorities believe have died. Meanwhile, the conflict has threatened to spark a regional war, as Israel has exchanged fire with Iran and its militant allies throughout the region.
Saturday’s attack hit a mosque inside a school in Gaza City, where thousands of people were sheltering. Gaza’s Health Ministry said 80 people were killed and around 50 injured. The Israeli military disputed the figure and said it killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in a pinpoint strike, and published what it said were their names and photographs.
Hamas and Palestinian activists disputed the military’s claims, saying that two of the 19 had been killed in previous attacks and that others were known to be civilians or Hamas opponents.
Gaza City and the rest of the north have been surrounded by Israeli forces and largely cut off from the world since late last year, and it was not possible to independently confirm either side’s accounts.
The UN human rights office says Israel has carried out “systematic attacks on schools” that have served as shelters since the start of the war, with at least 21 attacks since July 4, leaving hundreds dead. including women and children.
European leaders condemned the attack, while the United States said it was concerned by reports of civilian casualties. Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, said: “Once again, too many civilians have been killed.”
“We need a hostage agreement and a ceasefire,” he said. “The deal needs to be done and it needs to be done now.”
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Magdy reported from Cairo
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