IDF orders evacuation of part of Gaza safe zone, says Hamas deeply embedded in area

The Israel Defense Forces said on Monday that it was adjusting the boundaries of the Israel-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip to better target Hamas following numerous rocket attacks on southern Israel in recent weeks, and urged civilians to evacuate the Khan Younis area amid reports of intensified strikes.

In a message relayed via SMS, phone calls and other media broadcasts, the military instructed civilians in the eastern part of the humanitarian zone to move elsewhere, and warned that “remaining in the area has become dangerous.”

“The IDF is about to forcefully operate against the terror organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in al-Mawasi,” the military said, adding that the early warning was aimed at mitigating harm to civilians.

The adjustment to the humanitarian zone was being carried out “in accordance with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has emboldened terror infrastructure” within the civilian area, the military explained.

A military source said that hospitals in the area were not required to evacuate, and that the IDF had communicated as much to Palestinian health officials, as well as officials in the international community.

Following the evacuation orders, Palestinian media reported that Israeli ground forces were beginning to advance on the Abasan area in Khan Younis, amid a wave of airstrikes.

Later in on Monday, the IDF confirmed it had launched a new ground offensive in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, following what it said was intelligence of Hamas operatives and infrastructure in the area.

According to the IDF, Hamas had been attempting to regroup in Khan Younis, three months after the military withdrew from the city in southern Gaza.

The offensive was being carried out by the 98th Division, which had previously operated in Khan Younis for four months.

The IDF said that aircraft and artillery struck some 30 sites belonging to terror groups in Khan Younis on Monday morning, as the offensive began.

The targets included a rocket launching site used in an attack on southern Israel earlier in the day, weapon depots, observation posts, tunnel shafts, and buildings used by Hamas, according to the military.

The IDF said airstrikes and tank shelling also killed several terror operatives.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, around 70 Palestinians were killed in strikes in Khan Younis on Monday, in unverified figures that don’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.

The city’s Nasser Hospital urged residents to donate blood, saying that a large number of casualties were being brought to the hospital as a result of heavy tank shelling.

Earlier, the IDF said Israeli fighter jets and drones struck more than 35 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, including in Khan Younis, where a primed rocket launcher was targeted, among other terror infrastructure.

Additionally, the IDF said a drone strike killed a member of Hamas’s Nukhba force who participated in the October 7 onslaught and was involved in fighting Israeli troops in Gaza.

Further south, the IDF said troops with the 401st Armored Brigade had killed dozens of gunmen in the northwestern Tel Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, in close-quarters combat and by calling in airstrikes. Troops with the Givati Brigade were also said by the military to have killed several more gunmen during operations in Rafah.

In central Gaza, meanwhile, the IDF said several more terror operatives were killed by reservists of the Alexandroni Brigade.

Speaking to AFP after the evacuation orders, Youssef Abu Taimah, from the town of Al-Qarara in Khan Younis, said this would be the fourth time he has been displaced amid Israel’s war with Hamas.

“We left amidst ongoing air and tank shelling, and drones firing shots,” said the 27-year-old, who saw “injured and dead people transported by tuk-tuk (three-wheeled motorcycle) and donkey cart to Nasser Hospital” on the way.

He said that he had arrived at the adjusted humanitarian area in al-Mawasi with his family, only to discover that there was no room for them in the crowded makeshift encampment.

“We will stay on the street, and even the sidewalks are full of people and tents. We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement,” he said.

The already precarious humanitarian conditions inside Gaza have worsened in recent days with the discovery of the polio virus as water and sanitation services have deteriorated for the enclave’s 2.3 million people, most of them displaced.

Traces of the virus were found in sewage samples in Gaza, although the World Health Organization has said no one has been treated for symptoms caused by the disease.

Israel’s civilian coordination agency for the Palestinian territories, COGAT, said on Monday that 236 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza Sunday, but that the contents of over 550 were still waiting to be collected by aid agencies in Gaza.

It said the humanitarian trucks were transferred from Egypt to the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, in addition to seven tankers of fuel and six tankers of cooking gas.

“This is thanks to the UN aid organizations putting in a collective effort to collect the aid waiting on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom,” COGAT said, acknowledging the efforts of the international body, with whom it has traded frequent accusations of not doing enough to assist civilians amid the war with Hamas.

To that end, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said one of the UN’s aid convoys came under heavy IDF fire on Sunday as it headed to Gaza City.

The convoy was composed of clearly marked UN armored cars, Lazzarini said, and added that although the incident did not result in casualties, the UN team members, who were wearing UN vests, had to “duck and take cover.”

“One vehicle received at least five bullets while waiting just ahead of the Israeli Forces’ checkpoint south of Wadi Gaza,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “The car was severely damaged, it left the convoy. The teams re-assembled & finally reached Gaza City.”

The UNRWA head further noted that the convoy’s trip had been coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities, and that “those responsible must be held accountable.”

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

War broke out on October 7 when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251.

The Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday that at least 39,006 Palestinians had been killed and 89,818 wounded since the start of Israel’s military offensive in the Strip. 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 327.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.