2024-01-31 21:02:00
More than 180,000 people forced to leave Khan Younis, says UN agency
The United Nations aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA, says that amid intense fighting in Khan Younis, 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance following being forced to leave the area in recent days.
UNRWA Affairs Director Tom White said on X, formerly Twitter: “We have lost a health clinic, important shelters, facilities that supported the people of Khan Younis.”
In a video recorded in Gaza, White said thousands of already displaced people have been forced to flee Khan Younis due to intense fighting over the past eight days. “UNRWA and the people of Khan Younis have fled to the outskirts, closer to the coast,” he said.
Satellite images taken by Planet Labs over the past ten days show that a large group of tents set up by displaced people west of Khan Younis have already disappeared.
In satellite images from January 19, hundreds of tents can be seen around Aqsa Khan University, west of Khan Younis, an area where many people had fled following heavy fighting broke out in Khan Younis when Israeli forces expanded their ground operations in southern Gaza.
A satellite image shows tents in Khan Younis on January 19. (Credit: PlanetLabs)
However, images from January 29 show that the tents are no longer there.
The same area, photographed on January 29, no longer has the shops. (Credit: PlanetLabs)
The university is on a road leading west from Khan Younis toward the sea and toward an area that the Israel Defense Forces had ordered civilians to head toward.
Satellite images also show extensive excavator tracks and clearings. They also show before and following images of a large UNRWA vocational school just west of Khan Younis that was attacked on January 24. The IDF told CNN the next day that it “currently” ruled out that an air or artillery strike by Israeli forces had hit the UN facilities.
“After an examination of our operational systems, the IDF has currently ruled out that this incident is the result of an air or artillery strike by the IDF,” a statement said.
As the fighting spread to the vicinity of the nearby Nasser hospital and other neighborhoods west of Khan Younis, displaced Palestinians moved further and further away. It is not clear whether they did so of their own free will or because they were ordered to leave the area.
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that fighting continues in and around Khan Younis. The 7th Brigade had “located explosive devices, conducted a targeted raid on a weapons production facility, and eliminated dozens of terrorists,” according to the IDF’s latest operational update.
He said that “the Seventh Brigade carried out a targeted raid on a facility used by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization to manufacture weapons. “Soldiers located and destroyed a workshop used to produce weapons, including long-range rockets, anti-tank missiles, mines and explosive devices.”
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says 150 people died as a result of Israeli military operations during the most recent 24-hour period, a higher number than the previous day. 313 people were injured.
In total, the Ministry said, the death toll from Israeli military operations since October 7 has risen to 26,900, with 65,949 people injured.
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