IDF orders new evacuations for humanitarian zone, hits Hamas HQ in central Gaza school
Israeli-designated zone adjusted as army expands new offensive against terror group in Khan Younis; Palestinians say at least 31 killed in Deir al-Balah strike
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday morning issued fresh evacuation orders to Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, including in sections of the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, citing intelligence that Hamas terrorists were operating in the area.
Shortly following the orders, the IDF said a jet had targeted a Hamas command center in a school in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. Hamas said at least 31 people had been killed in the strike.
The figures could not be verified and did not differentiate between civilians and gunmen.
According to the IDF, the strike killed Hamas operatives hiding within the United Nations school used as shelter for displaced Palestinians.
In a statement on the evacuation orders, the military noted adjustments to the boundaries of the humanitarian zone and called on Palestinians sheltering in the area to temporarily evacuate to the adapted zone.
The humanitarian zone currently stretches from the al-Mawasi area on the coast to central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. It previously included large parts of western Khan Younis.
The IDF said the adjustment to the zone was being carried out “in accordance with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has embedded terror infrastructure” in the humanitarian zone. The IDF said there have been numerous rocket attacks from the area as well.
The IDF warned that it was to “forcefully operate” against the terror group’s operatives and infrastructure in southern Khan Younis area
In a message relayed via SMS, voice messages, phone calls, and media broadcasts, the military instructs civilians in specific areas of the humanitarian zone and other areas in southern Khan Younis to move to the humanitarian zone, warning that “remaining in the area has become dangerous.”
A military source said hospitals in the area did not need to evacuate, and that the IDF had communicated this to Palestinian health officials and officials in the international community.
The IDF issued similar orders last week, adjusting the boundaries of the humanitarian zone in western Khan Younis ahead of an intense assault and an operation that saw the extraction of the bodies of five Israelis who were killed and abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
The IDF first operated in Khan Younis earlier this year, before withdrawing some three months ago after announcing that Hamas’s organized fighting forces in the city in southern Gaza had been dismantled.
The zone that the IDF ordered to be evacuated on Saturday included areas where Israeli ground forces had not yet operated amid the ongoing war against Hamas — between southern Khan Younis and Rafah.
Command center in UN school
A Hamas command and control center embedded within a school in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah was struck by Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the IDF said, adding that it took extensive measures to minimize civilian casualties.
The military said that the command room it targeted was used by Hamas operatives to plan and carry out attacks against IDF troops in Gaza and against Israel.
Additionally, the IDF said the site was used to develop and store weaponry.
To mitigate harm to civilians, the IDF said it carried out “many steps,” including using a “munition adapted to the type of strike,” aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
“This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization’s systematic violation of international law and exploitation of civilian structures and population as human shields for its attacks against the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement.
In recent weeks, more than 50 airstrikes have been carried out against Hamas sites embedded within schools and other sites used as shelters for civilians, according to the IDF.
Earlier Saturday, the IDF said that dozens of targets were struck by Israeli fighter jets across the Gaza Strip over the past day.
The targets included a rocket launching site in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, which was primed for an attack on Israel, as well as buildings used by terror groups and cells of gunmen, according to the IDF.
The strikes come as troops continued to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah and Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, the IDF said troops with the 98th Division raided several Hamas sites, including tunnels, and located numerous weapons in the previous 24 hours.
Further south, in Rafah, troops with the 162nd Division raided more Hamas sites, and killed several cells of gunmen in close-quarters combat, according to the IDF.
War erupted on October 7 when Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people. The estimated 3,000 terrorists who burst through the boundary also abducted 251 people who were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas, topple its Gaza regime, and free the hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border stands at 330. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission and a Defense Ministry civilian contractor.
Agencies contributed to this report.
