The new evacuation order comes after EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said he was “horrified” and condemned the Israeli strike on a Gaza school that killed dozens.
The Israeli army ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza Strip after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the north killed at least 90 Palestinians, local health officials said. Israel said it targeted a militant command post and killed 19 fighters.
Israel has repeatedly ordered mass evacuations as its troops returned to heavily destroyed areas where they had fought Palestinian militants. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the war which has been going on for ten months, often several times.
Hundreds of thousands of people have crowded into squalid tent camps with few public services or sought shelter in schools like the one that was hit Saturday. Palestinians say Nowhere in the besieged territory do they feel safe.
The latest evacuation orders concern areas of Khan Younesincluding part of an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone from which the army says rockets have been fired. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of hiding among civilians and launching attacks from residential areas.
Khan Younis, Gaza’s second city, suffered massive destruction in an air and ground offensive earlier this year. Tens of thousands fled again last week after an evacuation order.
Hundreds of families carrying their belongings left their homes and shelters early Sunday, searching for elusive refuge.
Borrell ‘horrified’ by strike
Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said he was horrified by the images from the Gaza school. hit by Israeli strike on Saturday.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said “nothing justifies these massacres” and added that a ceasefire was the only way to prevent civilian deaths.
Mr Borrell said the EU fully supported the call by the leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar for the conclusion of ceasefire talks and an agreement on the release of the hostages.
He also recalled that more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the conflict and criticized Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for his opposition to a ceasefire.
Women, children and elderly people were reportedly among the dead. The strikes reportedly came as people were performing morning prayers at the school turned shelter.
Israel acknowledged hitting the Al-Tabai’een school in central Gaza City, saying a Hamas command center was located there. The Defense Ministry also said at least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were killed.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, denied that any militants were in the building.
According to Palestinian authorities, about 6,000 people were sheltering in the school. They said the school, like almost all schools in Gaza, was serving as a shelter for people displaced by the war.
Israel has said it aims to destroy Hamas following the October 7 attack that left 1,200 dead and during which 250 other people were kidnapped. More than 120 Israelis and citizens of other states are still being held hostage by the militants. It is not known whether they are alive.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,600 Palestinians and injured more than 91,700 others.according to the enclave’s health ministry.
More than 1.9 million peopleof the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza before the war, were driven from their homesfleeing repeatedly across the territory to escape the offensives. Most of them are now crammed into dilapidated tent camps in an area of about 50 square kilometers on the Gaza coast.
Additional sources • adaptation: Serge Duchêne