Gaza – The Israeli army on Saturday reduced, for the second time in a week, the area it claimed was “humanitarian” in the areas west and south of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip.
This is done by issuing new evacuation orders that force thousands of Palestinians to be forcibly displaced again from their places of residence, towards what he described as the “new humanitarian zone.”
In a statement, army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed that “in light of the rocket fire from neighborhoods in the western part of the humanitarian zone in Khan Yunis, remaining in that area has become dangerous.”
He added: “In light of the exploitation of the humanitarian zone for terrorist acts and the continuous firing of rockets towards Israel from Blocks 65, 66, 86 and 87, the presence in these has become dangerous, and therefore these blocks are now outside the humanitarian zone.”
But in the map published by the army on social media platforms, it appears that about 27 residential neighborhoods in the area that it previously claimed was humanitarian have been marked with a red flag.
The army called on the residents who remained in the “southern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to evacuate immediately and move temporarily to the newly created humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area (west).”
The army said in its statement: “At this stage, the area will be adapted based on accurate intelligence information indicating that Hamas has established terrorist infrastructure within the area that has been designated as a humanitarian zone,” according to its claim.
Last Monday, the Israeli army reduced the area it claimed was humanitarian by issuing evacuation orders demanding that residents of the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis evacuate immediately, preceded by an air and artillery attack and a surprise ground incursion, resulting in deaths and injuries.
During the past months, the Israeli army has called on Palestinians to leave their places of residence and head to these neighborhoods and blocks in the southern Gaza Strip, claiming that they are humane and safe.
On Saturday morning, Israeli vehicles opened fire with machine guns at the tents of the displaced in the southern areas of Khan Yunis, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.
The area that the army claims is humanitarian and forces Palestinians to move to lacks the minimum requirements for human life, in addition to being overcrowded with displaced people.
With the issuance of evacuation orders, the areas west and south of Khan Yunis witnessed a large displacement movement by citizens to the western areas of central Gaza Strip.
Intensive Israeli raids continue on the eastern areas of Khan Yunis, which the Israeli army had previously claimed were “safe.”
The Israeli army had classified the areas extending from the west of Salah al-Din Street (east of the city) to the sea in Khan Yunis as “safe areas.”
This July, the Israeli army committed two massacres in neighborhoods of Khan Yunis that it claimed were safe.
The first massacre was on July 13, targeting the Al-Mawasi area west of the city, which resulted in the killing of 90 Palestinians and the injury of 300. The second began last Monday, targeting the eastern areas of the city, which resulted in the killing of 129 Palestinians and the injury of 416 until Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on Monday, 83 percent of the Gaza Strip has been placed under evacuation orders or classified as “prohibited areas” by the army.
In the statement, it said that the Israeli forces issued evacuation orders that included parts of the so-called “humanitarian zone,” forcing thousands of people to move to escape the bombing and military operations without having a safe place to go.
According to the latest statistics from the Government Media Office, the number of displaced people in the Gaza Strip has reached about 2 million Palestinians, including 1.7 million living in the Al-Mawasi area west of the southern Gaza Strip in appalling living conditions, according to a previous statement by the international humanitarian aid organization “Oxfam.”
Anatolia
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2024-07-28 14:23:57
