Palestinians rush casualties to Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis following Israeli bombardment east of the city in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2024. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Deir Al Balah, Gaza Strip: The Israeli military ordered the evacuation Monday of part of a crowded area in the Gaza Strip it had designated a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants there.
Thousands of Palestinians, many carrying backpacks and accompanied by children, walked down dusty roads under the scorching sun, navigating dilapidated cars with belongings tied on top. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israeli’s air and ground campaign.
Palestinian civilians move away from the eastern districts of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 22, 2024. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
"We do not know where we are walking,” said Kholoud Al Dadas, as she clutched her children. "This is our seventh or eighth time we have been displaced. While we were sleeping in our homes, they started shooting at us, bombing from everywhere.” Moments later, she collapsed in exhaustion.
Earlier this month, Israel estimated at least 1.8 million Palestinians are now in the humanitarian zone it declared, covering about 14 kilometers (8.6 miles) along the Mediterranean. That's the bulk of Gaza's 2.3 million population.
Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, UN and humanitarian groups say. Families live amid mountains of trash and streams contaminated by sewage.
A Palestinian boy bleeds after sustaining wounds during Israeli bombardment while civilians fled the eastern districts of Khan Yunis on July 22, 2024. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
Gaza's Health Ministry said the toll from Israel's nine-month war against Hamas in Gaza has surpassed 39,000 Palestinians killed and 89,800 wounded.
The ministry added in a statement on Telegram that 23 Palestinians were killed and 91 wounded in the past 24 hours before this morning in three separate attacks across Gaza.
The death toll did not include the killings in Israel’s latest attack on eastern Khan Younis.
