Deadly Israeli attacks hit Khan Younis

Israeli forces carried out attacks in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, according to Palestinian health officials.

The attacks included the bombing of Khan Younis, a day after Israel ordered the latest evacuation of Palestinian civilians.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it carried out air strikes overnight on an area of ​​Khan Younis, where militants fired 20 rockets at Israeli settlements.

Further Israeli air strikes targeted the southern city of Rafah, while Israeli ground troops conducted operations against Hamas in central Gaza, the military said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Monday that Israel’s evacuation order for Khan Younis shows “that no place in Gaza is safe and that greater efforts must be made to protect civilians.”

Israel has repeatedly asked Palestinians to leave certain parts of the Gaza Strip, usually ahead of Israeli offensives. Israel says this is to protect civilians from the war. The evacuations and fighting have led to people fleeing in search of safety on several occasions.

“It is another stop in this deadly cycle that the population of Gaza is regularly subjected to,” said Dujarric. “This is once again why we need an end to this conflict.”

A resident of the affected evacuation zone, Ahmad Najjar, told Agence France-Presse: “Following the evacuation order, people have become afraid and extremely anxious.” He noted that there had been “a large displacement of residents.”

Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip began when Hamas-led militants entered southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, mostly civilians, according to Israeli sources.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 38,000 people have been killed so far in the Israeli retaliatory offensive and the densely built-up coastal enclave lies in ruins.

Some information for this story was provided by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.