Historically, Gaza has been a crucible of displacement, with families uprooted multiple times due to conflict and Israeli military operations.

This plight has actually worsened due to Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas.

The arbitrary nature of evacuation orders, coupled with the ever-present threat of military escalation, leaves civilians in a state of perpetual uncertainty and fear.

Exacerbating the relentless cycle of displacement and dispossession that has plagued Gaza for months now, the Israeli military has ordered Palestinians living in eastern areas of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, to urgently leave for an unspecified “humanitarian zone.”

Hours later, the Israeli army claimed in a new post that the evacuation order does not apply to the European Hospital in Khan Younis.

However, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that patients were being transferred to nearby hospitals from the European Hospital after Israel ordered the evacuation of the east of the city, in what many sees as preparation for a ground assault on the area.

In the new post, the Israeli army said that people fleeing Khan Younis should head to the “al-Mawasi humanitarian zone.”

The tragic irony is that what should be safe havens for civilians seeking refuge often transform into zones of peril and devastation.

The notion of “humanitarian zones” where displaced persons are directed offers little solace when these areas themselves become targets of military strikes, as evidenced by recent attacks on al-Mawasi.

Though described as a “humanitarian zone”, Palestinians recently fled the area after Israeli tank fire and air strikes on al-Mawasi, including the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which evacuated its temporary headquarters from al-Mawasi on June 29, 2024.

According to Gaza officials, at least 25 people were killed in two Israeli strikes on the al-Mawasi camp on June 21, while at least 21 people were killed there in another attack on May 28,2024.

Khan Younis resident Ahmed al-Bairam said there was no time to take anything, following the Israeli military’s orders for people to leave the eastern part of the war-torn city in southern Gaza.

“We came from the eastern area then we moved to the European hospital, then we went to Rafah, then we came back to Bani Suheila, then we returned to Nasser Hospital and now we just went up the Somood camp,’ Al-Bairam said of his search to find safety for his family from Israeli attacks.

“It is tiring, tiring, tiring. This time we did not take anything with us. There is no time to carry anything,” he said.

He added, “There is no transportation, basically. I have children with me and they all walk.”

This constant movement and enforced displacement is taking its toll on a population that has been traumatised and displaced for the past nine months.

A Likely 24-hour Countdown To Israeli Incursion

In their latest battlefield report, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said that the evacuation order issued for the east of Khan Younis “typically means that Israeli forces will enter the area within 24 hours.”

The US-based defence think tanks stated that the expected “clearing operations” in eastern Khan Younis follow after Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters launched a salvo of 20 rockets towards Israel from the southern city in the Gaza Strip.

The war monitors said that Israeli forces had pulled out of Khan Younis on April 7, 2024, and the “reconstitution” of Hamas forces in the city is likely behind the forthcoming ground operation.

An Israeli ground operation is continuing in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north where Hamas fighters have used sophisticated weaponry, including “explosively formed penetrators” which are often used to target Israeli armour.

According to the ICW/CTP report, Hamas fighters appear to have also “at least partially reconstituted” in Shujayea too, since Israeli forces last operated there in April.