Families flee after renewed evacuation orders in Gaza

Cairo/Gaza, August 26

Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Sunday, forcing more families to flee, saying its forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area.

In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.

The Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people. In a statement posted on X, the Israeli military urged residents in certain zones to move immediately to the west, as the area they are in is “considered a dangerous combat zone”.

Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people were sheltering, two at a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.

Seven others were killed in two separate Israeli strikes, five in a car in Khan Younis and two people at a school in Gaza City, medics said.