By Nour Abu Eisha
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Monday ordered Palestinians living in eastern areas of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip to immediately leave ahead of a possible new ground assault.
The army earlier sent audio messages to residents telling them to leave before posting a message in Arabic repeating the warning on social media.
It said the area has become a "dangerous combat zone" and urged people to leave towards areas known as “humanitarian zones” in the western part of the city, known as the Al-Mawasi area.
The area ordered to be evacuated also includes the Gaza European hospital, which is one of the few hospitals operating in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, the Islamic Jihad group said it fired a barrage of rockets from the Khan Younis area towards Israeli areas bordering Gaza. The Israeli army did not report any casualties or material damage from the incident, however.
Palestinian resistance groups announced in separate statements during the day that their fighters were engaged in fighting and clashes with the Israeli army, particularly in the Shejaiya neighborhood of eastern Gaza City and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
At least 37,900 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and around 87,060 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar