By 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 Israel’s air and ground campaign.
“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.
The Israeli military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets toward Israel. The area includes the eastern part of the Muwasi humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip.
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, U.N. and humanitarian groups say. Families live amid mountains of trash and streams contaminated by sewage.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the toll from Israel’s nine-month war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has surpassed 39,000 Palestinians killed and 89,800 wounded. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The war began when assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 120 hostages have since been released or escaped, but 130 are believed to be dead, according to Israeli officials.
