Thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza were forced to flee their homes and shelters once again this week, after the Israeli military ordered evacuations on Thursday from a swath of neighborhoods in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza, and from parts of central Gaza the day before.
Mohammed Aborjela was among those who fled an affected city, Deir al Balah, where he had been sheltering with friends. On Wednesday, his phone received a recorded message from the Israeli military, ordering Palestinians to “immediately” leave parts of the city and saying that it would act “forcefully” against Hamas militants in the area.
Hours after he arrived in Al-Mawasi, Mr. Aborjela said, shelling from tanks reached tents people were sheltering in.
“The tanks got close to us,” he said. “And they started shelling the people even though it is supposed to be a safe zone.”
The Israeli military said that it “takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm” when asked whether its ground forces opened tank fire toward Al-Mawasi.
In a statement, the Israeli military said Thursday that its forces had “intensified their operational activities in the area” of Deir al Balah, after its intelligence indicated the presence of Hamas infrastructure and fighters there and in Khan Younis.
Dr. Iyad al-Jabri, a surgeon and administrator at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, said that seven people who were wounded from the shelling of Al-Mawasi were brought to the medical facility.
They weren’t the only ones hurrying to the hospital. Hundreds of families fleeing the new evacuation orders arrived there to take shelter, even as hospital officials began to make their own contingency plans in case the Israeli military further expands its evacuation zones to include the hospital.
“In this area there is a ground invasion and we have to think, ‘Where can we go, what are we going to do?’” Dr. al-Jabri said. “So we are running around seeing where can we send our patients in case, God forbid, we are ordered to leave this hospital.”
More than 150,000 displaced people have been living in the central Gaza areas subject to Wednesday’s evacuation order, according to the United Nations. Nearly a dozen such orders issued this month by the Israeli military have so far affected an estimated 250,000 people and disrupted the movement of aid, the United Nations said. The multiple orders to flee between Aug. 8 to 17 have caused the loss of essential health services for many, the United Nations said, affecting 17 health facilities in total.
Before the orders issued this month, the United Nations had already estimated that around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of more than two million people had been forced to leave their homes since the war began because of evacuation orders, Israeli bombardments and ground fighting.
In a statement, the Gaza Health Ministry said that Israel’s military offensive was approaching the vicinity of Al-Aqsa hospital, and called on the international community and the United Nations to protect the overcrowded complex.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it had been “made clear” to hospitals that they did not need to evacuate, but did not respond to questions about which hospitals this was communicated to and how.
Israel has accused Hamas of taking advantage of Gaza’s urban terrain to provide its fighters and weapons with an extra layer of protection, including running tunnels under neighborhoods and launching rockets near civilian homes. Hamas denies these accusations and says its members are Gazans who live among the population.
International law experts have said that no matter what, Israel bears a responsibility to protect civilians. U.S. officials, while backing Israel’s assertions, have also called for Israel to do more to safeguard Gazans.
Majdi Nassar, 33, a taxi driver before the war who fled to Deir al Balah from the northern Gaza Strip, received a call last Friday on his cellphone instructing him to leave, because the Israeli military said the neighborhood blocks they were in “had become fighting zones.”
“We were 10 people, my wife, son and in-laws,” he said. “We were all sharing one tent and had to dismantle it and flee. We took everything with us: the tent and the canned food we had and our clothes.”
It was the eighth time they have had to flee over 10 months of war.
“I don’t know what they are attacking here now,” he said. “I didn’t hear or see any shooting, or rockets, or anything from the Palestinians in this area.”
He said he was fleeing only for the safety of the children with him.
“I myself no longer care,” he said. “Death is no longer the worst scenario. This life is much worse. The scene of thousands of people running for their lives every day is unbearable.”
