Israel issues evacuation orders in south Gaza, kills 16 Palestinians
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[July 22, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ari Rabinovitch and Hatem Khaled
CAIRO/JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes
killed at least 16 Palestinians near Khan Younis, Gaza medics said on
Monday, after Israel issued new orders to evacuate some neighborhoods
following what it said were renewed attacks from those areas.
To facilitate evacuations, the military said, it was adjusting the
boundaries of a humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi to keep the civilian
population away from areas of combat with Hamas-led Palestinian
militants.
Palestinian health officials said at least 16 Palestinians were killed
by Israeli tank salvoes in the town of Bani Suhaila just east of the
southern city of Khan Younis, with the area also bombarded by air.
The Gaza health ministry said the dead included six children and four
women. It added that dozens of others were wounded by Israeli fire.
Hamas media put the number of the dead at 26.
The military statement said the new orders were due to renewed
Palestinian militant attacks, including rockets launched from the
targeted areas in eastern Khan Younis. The evacuation orders did not
include health institutions, Palestinians said.
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The Palestinians, the United Nations and international relief agencies
have said there is no safe place left in Gaza. Earlier in July, dozens
of Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks in the
humanitarian-designated Al-Mawasi area.
Israel said the attacks were aimed at armed militants, including some
top Hamas military commanders. Palestinian officials called those
allegations false and said they were used to justify the attacks.
Later on Monday, health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
urged residents to donate blood because of the large number of
casualties being rushed into the medical centre.
Reuters footage showed casualties, including some women and children,
arriving at Nasser Hospital in ambulances and others in private cars.
"A family, including children, were all torn to pieces while they were
sleeping," said a man who arrived in an ambulance bearing the bodies.
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![](../images/072224PIX/news_q40.jpg)
A mourner reacts during the funeral of Palestinians killed in
Israeli strikes, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, at Nasser hospital, in
Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip July 22, 2024.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had reports of
dozens of people killed by Israeli aerial and tank fire on the
eastern outskirts of Khan Younis but teams could not reach them
because of the intensity of the bombardment.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military carried out air strikes on two
houses in the Al-Bureij and Deir Al-Balah areas of the central Gaza
Strip, wounding several people, medics said.
Another air strike in Gaza City in the north of the densely
populated enclave killed two other Palestinians, they added.
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after militants killed 1,200 people
and took more than 250 hostages in a cross-border assault on Oct. 7
last year, according to Israeli tallies. At least 38,000
Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive
since then, Gaza health authorities say.
A ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United
States has so far fallen short because of disagreements over terms
between the combatants, who blame each other for the impasse.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered a
delegation charged with negotiating a hostage deal to be dispatched
on Thursday, his office said, without giving the delegation's
destination.
Netanyahu held a meeting on Sunday with the delegation and senior
members of Israel's defense establishment, it said.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Ari Rabinovitch in
Jerusalem and Hatem Khaled in Gaza; editing by Christian
Schmollinger, Sharon Singleton and Mark Heinrich)
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