Gaza’s civil defence agency and eyewitnesses reported Israeli shelling in the central city of Deir el-Balah, after the Israeli military warned of imminent action in an area.
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah after the military yesterday ordered those in the central Gaza area to leave immediately as it was expanding operations, including “in an area where it has not operated before” in more than 21 months of war.
Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to initial estimates from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, with whole families seen carrying what few belongings they had on donkey carts heading south.
Israeli sources said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them.
Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said.
There was no Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel’s military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing “to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Injured people are seen in an ambulance after Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of people queuing for food
The military escalation comes as Gaza health officials warned of potential “mass deaths” in the coming days due to mounting hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Health officials said hospitals were running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day, and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion because of hunger.
At least 67 people were killed by Israeli fire yesterday as they waited for UN aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Israel’s military said its troops had fired warning shots towards a crowd of thousands of people in northern Gaza to remove what it said was “an immediate threat”.
It said initial findings suggested reported casualty figures were inflated, and it “certainly does not intentionally target humanitarian aid trucks.”
Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that Gaza is on the brink of famine
The new raid and escalating number of fatalities appeared to be complicating ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel that are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt, with US backing.
A Hamas official told Reuters yesterday that the militant group was angered over the mounting deaths and the hunger crisis in the Palestinian territory, and that this could badly affect ceasefire talks under way in Qatar.
Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and hostage deal, although there has been no sign of breakthrough.
Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza’s population of more than two million – which is also facing severe food shortages – has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders. According to OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8% of Gaza’s area is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones.
UNRWA, the UN refugee agency dedicated to Palestinians, said in a post on X, it was receiving desperate messages from Gaza warning of starvation, including from its own staff as food prices have increased 40-fold.
“Meanwhile, just outside Gaza, stockpiled in warehouses UNRWA has enough food for the entire population for over three months. Lift the siege and let aid in safely and at scale,” it said.
Israel’s military said yesterday that it “views the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as a matter of utmost importance, and works to enable and facilitate its entry in coordination with the international community.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population and plunged the territory into a humanitarian crisis.