Israel’s army told people to leave part of the biggest city in southern Gaza, as it fights more with Hamas.
A map showed six parts of Khan Younis in the north and center where about 167,000 people needed to move away.
People saw tanks in the east, and a doctor said the nearby hospital was very busy treating a lot of injured people.
A lot of the 2. 3 million people in Gaza are staying in the south because they were told to leave the north.
The army of Israel said it will use strong force in the south, like it did in the north where there was a lot of damage in the past two months.
Israel started a big fight in Gaza because Hamas attacked them. Many people were killed and some were taken hostage.
The health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, says that almost 15,900 people have died in the area since the war started. The United Nations also says that a very bad situation is happening and it is a big disaster.
A short break in fighting for seven days ended on Friday. During this time, 105 hostages and 240 Palestinians were set free from Israeli jails.
Israeli tanks move close to the fence that separates Israel from Gaza.
The Israeli military said it will have strong operations in the south of Gaza, just like the ones in the north.
The BBC reporter in Gaza, Rushdi Abu Alouf, who is now in Istanbul, said that there were about 200 Israeli air attacks during the night.
Local authorities have said that 15 to 20 areas in and around Khan Younis were attacked. The population there has grown to about 1. 2 Deir al-Balah, a town in the middle, was also heavily bombed, about 8km (5 miles) to the north.
Many people, including women and children, were brought to Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital from different places because they were hurt. A lot of people died or were badly hurt.
Mohammed Eid cried and wiped his tears from his injured face as he stood with other sad people next to covered bodies outside the hospital on Monday morning.
“We were sleeping peacefully, not bothering anyone. ” “Out of nowhere, a bomb dropped on us, and the entire building was ruined,” he said to the media.
“My brother and his wife were hurt a lot” My daughter died, and his daughters also died, including his youngest. We can’t find my mom and my niece.
Later, people in Gaza said they saw Israeli tanks and vehicles with armor on the eastern edge of Khan Younis. This area is closest to the fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
Moaz Mohammed told AFP news agency that he saw tanks on the main road, Salah al-Din Road, which is one of two routes designated by Israel for leaving the area.
The tanks were shooting at cars and people in the area between Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told people to stay away from a part of Salah al-Din Road because it is now a dangerous battlefield.
The IDF told people in six areas of Khan Younis to leave right away to stay safe.
Map showing parts of Khan Younis where the IDF has told people to leave (4 December 2023)
The UN says that before the war, about 117,000 people lived in the marked area in Khan Younis. It has 21 places where 50,000 people without homes are living now.
The map shows them where to go: al-Fukhari, east of Khan Younis, and the crowded neighborhoods of al-Shaboura and Tal al-Sultan in Rafah.
“The IDF spokesperson said that Israeli forces are still using strong force against Hamas terrorists and their buildings, but they are trying to avoid hurting the civilians that Hamas uses as shields. ”
“We are giving out papers with special codes that people can scan with their phones. The codes will show them a map that helps them find safe places in Gaza. ” The map shows which neighborhoods people should go to so they don’t get caught in the fighting.
The IDF started the program because the US wants them to keep civilians safe. But our reporter in Gaza talked to Palestinians in the areas that were affected, and some of them don’t know about the map or can’t see it because they don’t have internet.
“This is not a map, it’s a joke. We don’t know where to go,” said a displaced person sheltering in Khan Younis.
Hurt kids from Palestine are getting help at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Southern hospitals are having a hard time managing the large number of injured patients, including kids.
At the European Hospital in Khan Younis, an orthopedic surgeon said there were hundreds of injured people and the hospital was very busy.
“It’s a mess – we can’t take in any more patients and they keep coming,” Dr. Paul Ley said. “We have over 360 people waiting for surgery, and it’s too much for us to handle. ”
Dr Ley also said that the hospital’s hallways and outdoor areas were crowded with 6,000 to 7,000 people who had to leave their homes. Some of them were medical workers who had run away from the northern part of the country.
“Anaesthetics and painkillers are becoming scarce, so we have to lower our safety standards. ” We are still at the hospital and the Israelis know we are here, but some pieces of metal from a bomb have hit the hospital.
Doctors Without Borders said that the hospital in Deir al-Balah had over 100 people who died and more than 400 who were hurt in the last 2 days. The hospital is full and cannot take any more patients.
The UN reported that four hospitals in the north are open but are only able to take in a small number of patients and offer limited medical help. In the southern area, 12 hospitals are only working partly. They can only take care of half as many patients as they could before the war, and only one hospital can do difficult surgeries.