Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing their homes in Gaza’s Khan Younis as Israeli forces bombard the area with bombs and artillery fire following a new evacuation order for the southern city.
The latest strikes on Tuesday killed at least eight people and injured more than 30 in several neighborhoods of Khan Younis. The attacks have caused panic among residents, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times and have no clear path to safety.
The Israeli military’s newly declared evacuation zone in Khan Younis encompasses an area where 250,000 people live, according to Sam Rose, planning director at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“This order means yet another chapter of misery for these hundreds of thousands of people. We expect 250,000 people in areas under the evacuation order,” Rose told Al Jazeera from Nuseirat in central Gaza.
Some residents had just returned from Rafah, also in the south of the enclave, where they had been displaced a few weeks ago.