The UN said Tuesday that it estimated 150,000 Palestinians have fled eastern Khan Younis since Israel launched its new assault on the southern Gaza Strip city on Monday.
Israel’s evacuation order for the new Khan Younis offensive covered areas previously declared so-called “safe zones,” which Israel has frequently bombed. An official from the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, told BBC that 80% of Gaza “has been placed under evacuation orders or designated as no-go zones by the Israeli military.”
The Israeli military said it launched the new offensive because Hamas had reconstituted itself in the area. The IDF has re-invaded Khan Younis and other cities it has completely destroyed multiple times.
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has been overwhelmed with injured Palestinians since Israel launched the new assault. Many Palestinians who fled the offensive are taking shelter in the hospital.
Rabah Abdul Ghafour, a 37-year-old sheltering at the hospital, told BBC that he’d been displaced 12 times since October 7. Another Palestinian, Rawan al-Brim, 22, described the difficulties she’s had with her baby.
“We slept in the outer yard without a mattress or a blanket. My four-month-old daughter was born during the war. My breast milk has dried up and I can’t find any milk to satisfy her hunger. My baby screams from hunger all night,” said al-Brim, who arrived at the hospital with her family on Monday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 84 Palestinians had been killed in the Strip in the previous 24-hour period, while another 329 were injured. The ministry also said the death toll since October 7 has reached 39,090, a number that doesn’t include the estimated 10,000 Palestinians who are missing and believed to be dead or dying under the rubble. Gaza’s Media office said 16,000 children have been killed by Israeli forces.