IDF orders evacuations in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya after rocket attack on Israel
Airstrikes target Hamas operatives in Gaza City school-turned-shelter and other buildings used for weapons manufacturing; IDF says it killed 100 gunmen in Rafah in recent days
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday called on Palestinians in parts of the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya to evacuate, following rocket fire from the area aimed at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.
Two rockets were launched at Ashkelon earlier in the day, with one being intercepted and the other impacting the sea.
The IDF in recent months has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for areas from which terrorists launched rockets at Israel.
Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a map on of the zones to be evacuated, saying “the specified area has been warned many times in the past.”
The area is “considered a dangerous combat zone” following repeated rocket attacks on Israel, Adraee said.
Also on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City targeted a group of Hamas operatives using a school-turned-shelter as a command center, the IDF said.
#عاجل ‼️ الى كل المتواجدين في أحياء المنشية، الشيخ زايد ومشروع بيت لاهيا:
⭕️المنظمات الإرهابية تطلق مرة اخرى القذائف الصاروخية وتواصل العمليات الإرهابية نحو دولة اسرائيل.
⭕️تم تحذير المنطقة المحددة مرات عديدة. المنطقة المحددة تعتبر منطقة قتال خطيرة
⭕️نؤكد ان الاخلاء لا يشمل… pic.twitter.com/ZECOTJNhvj
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) September 14, 2024
In a statement, the IDF said that the terror group was using the Shuhada al-Zeitoun School, which has been serving as a shelter for displaced Gazans, to plan and carry out attacks against Israel and Israeli forces.
The IDF added that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike and noted that Hamas “systematically” uses civilian sites for terror.
First responders in Gaza reported five dead, including two children and a woman, and several others wounded.
The bodies “were pulled from under the rubble after Israeli warplanes hit the Shuhada al-Zeitoun school with two missiles,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defense agency.
Israel says Hamas regularly uses schools and other civilian sites for its operations.
In a separate airstrike Saturday, the IDF struck two buildings used by Hamas in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, also close to a school-turned-shelter, the military said.
The military said the buildings were used by Hamas operatives for various attacks and to manufacture weapons.
The IDF denied some Palestinian reports that the strike targeted a fuel facility in the area, near the Dar al-Arqam School.
Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense reported five dead in the strike.
Meanwhile, the IDF said Saturday that troops had killed more than 100 gunmen during operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood.
Soldiers also located rocket launchers, weapons caches, and other infrastructure belonging to Hamas, the military added.
Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
