Gaza’s civil defense agency said Saturday that Israel’s military operation around Khan Yunis has killed about 170 people and wounded hundreds since it started on Monday.
“Since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in the Khan Yunis area, we are talking of approximately 170 martyrs and hundreds of wounded,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
He said many people had been displaced again on Saturday as the Israeli operation continued.
“The questions is where will these residents go?” Basal said.
“Anyone who sees the situation in Khan Yunis will witness thousands of people spread out on the ground, on the roads, in areas that unfortunately are not suitable for living. “With no other options available, they are exposing themselves to death.”
Earlier on Saturday the military issued new evacuation orders for residents of the southern city, after retrieving the bodies of five Israelis and warning of new operations.
The United Nations said more than 180,000 Palestinians have fled Khan Yunis since the Israeli operation began on Monday.
The evacuation orders and “intensified hostilities” have “significantly destabilized aid operations,” it added, reporting “dire water, hygiene and sanitation conditions” across the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military said it launched the operation to halt rocket fire from the area, which already saw heavy fighting earlier this year.
Meanwhile, at least 30 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a school in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, and the Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas command centre.
The Gaza health ministry and the Hamas-run government media office gave the toll for those killed in the strike on the school in Deir Al-Balah, one of the areas most populated with displaced families, and said over 100 others were wounded.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had targeted a “Hamas command and control center inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza”.
Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian official media said that at least 14 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks since dawn in the southern city of Khan Younis and that their bodies were brought to Nasser Medical Complex.
An Israeli military commander said Friday that troops in the country’s north were preparing for “a decisive offensive” against Lebanon’s Hezbollah after months of deadly cross-border exchanges.
Israeli forces have traded near-daily fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel started the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.—Agencies
