Israel bombs Gaza Strip and orders evacuation of hundreds of thousands

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after issuing evacuation orders that forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee from various sectors in the southern Palestinian territory, devastated by nearly nine months of war between the Israeli army and the Islamist movement Hamas. Witnesses and an AFP journalist reported a multitude of Israeli bombings on Tuesday morning in Khan Yunis and its surroundings in the south of the territory. Eight people were killed in Israeli bombings in Khan Yunis and Rafah, also in the south, and over thirty were injured, according to the Red Crescent and a medical source. The Israeli army stated that it was continuing its operations in a neighborhood in Gaza City in the north, in Rafah, and in the center of the territory, after ordering a new evacuation of sectors in the south on Monday, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had already fled from the fighting several weeks ago. This measure in the southern Gaza Strip affects 250,000 people, as reported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Tuesday. "We have seen people moving, families moving, people packing their belongings and trying to leave" these sectors, stated Louise Wateridge, a UNRWA spokesperson. Displaced families fled amidst the ruins of Khan Yunis, on foot or crammed into vehicles, as observed by AFP. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Sunday that the army was engaged in a "difficult combat" in the Gaza Strip, nearly nine months after the start of the war triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7. On that day, Islamist militants killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 in southern Israel, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official data. The Israeli army estimates that 116 people remain captive in Gaza, 42 of whom are believed to have died. In response, Israel launched an offensive that has already resulted in at least 37,925 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, which has been in power in this territory since 2007. "We are approaching the end of the phase of eliminating the terrorist army of Hamas," Netanyahu declared on Monday, after asserting over a week ago that the "intense" phase of the war was coming to an end. Meanwhile, negotiations to reach a ceasefire agreement remain stalled. Israeli troops launched a ground operation in Rafah on May 7, on the border with Egypt, with the aim of combating what they labeled as the last major stronghold of Hamas, an offensive that triggered an exodus of one million Palestinians, according to the UN. However, fighting intensified in recent weeks in several regions that the army claimed to control, especially in the north, while the offensive continues in Rafah. The new evacuation orders from several sectors in the southern Gaza Strip come several hours after a barrage of projectiles launched towards Israel and claimed by the Islamic Jihad, another armed Palestinian group allied with Hamas. The army stated on Tuesday that it bombed the location from where the rockets were fired the previous day, in the surroundings of Khan Yunis, mainly targeting a weapons warehouse, operational centers, and other "terrorist infrastructure." In the north, the army continued its operations initiated on June 27 in Shujaiya, a neighborhood in the east of Gaza City where they claim to have eliminated "numerous terrorists." An AFP correspondent reported new bombings on Tuesday in this sector, as well as in Zeitun, also in Gaza City. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people have fled in recent days from the east and northeast of the city, according to the UN. "We fled from Shujaiya. The situation is very difficult. We have nowhere to stay. We look for water, but we cannot find any," recounted a Palestinian who sought refuge in the west of the town. The war has caused massive displacement of the population and a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory, where water and food are scarce. Thousands of children suffer from malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. Dozens of Palestinian prisoners, including the director of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, were released on Monday by Israel and transferred to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, according to a medical source. Salmiya denounced having been subjected to "serious torture" during his seven months of detention. Netanyahu criticized this release as "a serious mistake" and believed that "the place for this man, under whose responsibility our hostages died and were held, is in prison."