Palestinians have been fleeing Khan Younis after warnings from the IDF on Monday to evacuate the area for safety. The flow of citizens continued overnight and into Tuesday, many saying they had no time to pack or prepare and fled with only the clothes on their backs.
The move westward to the humanitarian zone in the Bedouin town of al-Mawasi. They were seen carrying what belongings they could take on their backs, while others traveled in cars, trucks, and heavily laden motorcycles. Some were aided by donkeys, and one girl was filmed being transported in a wheelbarrow.
Palestinians moving away from Khan Younis
(Video: Reuters)
"We received a notification on our mobile phone to evacuate," Zineb Abu-Jazar told an AP crew, her voice cracking with emotion. "Look at these children, how they walk. We couldn’t find a car to take us."
Another evacuee, Ahmed Al-Bayram, told Reuters that he had been displaced numerous times since the war began. "We came from the eastern area, then moved to the European Hospital, then to Rafah, then back to Bani Suheila. From there, we moved to Nasser Hospital, and just now we arrived at the Sumud camp. Only Allah knows where we will be tomorrow. It’s exhausting, exhausting, exhausting. This time we didn’t take anything with us. There was no time to take anything. There is practically no transportation. I have children with me, and they are walking."
The IDF warning came hours after Islamic Jihad terrorists, fired a heavy barrage of 20 rockets at Israeli border communities in the morning hours on Monday. Although there were no casualties or damage from the attack, it was highly unusual and represented a show of force by the terrorist factions after nine months of war.
The world is now speculating whether the call for an evacuation signals an intention by the IDF to re-enter Khan Younis after its forces withdrew last April. The IDF has already conducted several raids into areas they had withdrawn from, so far only in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The military said such raids were necessary to prevent Hamas from re-establishing its control there.
The IDF said on Tuesday that its forces struck targets in the Khan Younis area from which the rockets were launched. It implied that the evacuation order was intended to protect civilians before the airstrikes, and not to re-enter the city, at least not at this time. The military said that Air Force fighter jets, in collaboration with the Southern Command, bombed targets overnight, including a weapons depot, operational apartments, and additional terror infrastructures.
"Prior to the attacks, the IDF took precautions and allowed civilians to evacuate the area to minimize the impact on non-combatants," the statement said. "The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law by cynically exploiting the civilian population as a shield for its terrorist activities against the State of Israel."
According to Hamas, thousands of refugees have responded to the IDF’s demand. "Thousands of families have been displaced from Khan Younis and Rafah after the occupation demanded their evacuation. The government’s capabilities to meet the population’s needs are limited due to the war," said the communication ministry in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres quickly expressed his dismay over the evacuation announcement of the eastern part of Khan Younis, stating, "It shows that there is no safe place in Gaza" for Palestinian civilians. "This is another step in the deadly circular movement that the population in Gaza is forced to make on a regular basis," Guterres said in a statement, reiterating his call for an immediate ceasefire.
The evacuation announcement comes amid assessments that the intensified operation in Rafah, which Khan Younis borders to the north, is nearing its end, transitioning to the less intense phase C of the war – the phase that already exists in northern Gaza with recurring raids for “mowing the grass.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "progressing toward the end of the phase of eliminating the Hamas terror army" but "there will be continued strikes on its remnants."