The Israeli military has issued a new forced evacuation warning for the Palestinians in central Gaza, ordering them to move south to al-Mawasi, an area Israel has regularly attacked despite declaring it a “safe zone.”
Thousands of leaflets were dropped over Deir el-Balah, telling displaced families living in tents in several densely populated parts of the city to leave immediately.
Israeli military warned of imminent action against Hamas fighters in the area. In a post on X, the military’s Arabic-language Spokesman, Avichay Adraee said that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area should leave immediately.
He said that Israel was “expanding its activities” around Deir el-Balah, including “in an area where it has not operated before,” telling Palestinians to move south towards the al-Mawasi area on the Mediterranean coast for their safety.
Israeli military issued the warning as Israel and Hamas held indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators said that there have been no breakthroughs.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, but negotiations have been stalled for months.
This month, the Israeli military announced that it controlled more than 65 percent of the Gaza Strip. Most of Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been displaced at least once during the war, which is now in its 22nd month. Israel has repeatedly ordered Palestinians to leave or face attacks in large parts of the coastal enclave.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in January that more than 80 percent of the Gaza Strip was under unrevoked Israeli evacuation threats and many of their residents were living with starvation.
Israel Continues Attacks On Aid Seekers
Meanwhile, Israel continued its deadly attacks on unarmed and starving civilians desperately looking for food, killing dozens of Palestinians on Sunday, at least 73 of the aid seekers in northern Gaza.
The Gaza’s health ministry disclosed that the victims had been killed in different locations, mostly in northern Gaza. It said that 67 of the dead had been killed by Israeli fire while waiting for UN aid trucks entering through the northern Zikim crossing with Israel.
Israel’s military said that soldiers had shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza who it claimed posed a threat, and it was aware of some casualties. However, it said that the numbers reported by officials in Gaza were far higher than its initial investigation found.
Pope Leo XIV condemned the war in Gaza and the “indiscriminate use of force.” He called for “an immediate end to the barbarity of the war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict” at the end of the Angelus prayer at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence near Rome.
The Pope also spoke of his anguish over the Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church last week, which killed three people and injured 10. Among the injured was the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.
Israel has expressed “deep sorrow” and opened an investigation into the strike on the church, which was sheltering about 600 displaced people, most of them children and many with special needs.
“This act, unfortunately, adds to the ongoing military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians, as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations.”
Pope Leo XIV
The UN’s agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said that Israeli authorities were “starving civilians in Gaza,” including 1 million children.
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