Israeli airstrikes hit shelters in Deir el-Balah overnight as Gaza City prepares for a possible ground operation.
The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians in northern Gaza, as Gaza City prepares for a possible ground operation.
On Wednesday, army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation orders for several districts of Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya, areas among the worst hit by Israel’s ground invasion at the start of the war 10 months ago.
In a message sent to Palestinian residents, he said Hamas and other groups were “firing rockets from your area” toward Israel and that the army would “act forcefully and immediately against them.”
“For your own safety, evacuate immediately to known shelters in the center of Gaza City,” the army spokesman said.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the army was preparing for a “large-scale” ground operation in Gaza City, where an Israeli airstrike on a house killed three Palestinians on Wednesday, according to medical sources.
Tel Aviv Tribune correspondents reported that at least two other people were killed in airstrikes in the city. One of the victims was found in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, while another was found in the Zeitoun neighborhood.
Last night’s Israeli attacks also destroyed two homes and tents sheltering displaced people in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing three and wounding ten.
Palestinians who settled in the area after Israeli forces declared it a “security zone” are now being forced to take their lives back into their own hands.
“Most of the people here have been displaced many times – from Rafah, Khan Younis and central Gaza – now they are all crammed together in Deir el-Balah,” one resident told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“The Israelis claim that this is a safe area. Why are they bombing the area now? This is all lying propaganda.”
Nowhere is safe #GazaAmidst ongoing military operations, families are forcibly displaced and have nowhere to go.
Evacuation orders are almost daily, shelters are overcrowded and people are having to return to destroyed areas with serious risks from unexploded ordnance. pic.twitter.com/qEF9HoIdwc
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 7, 2024
On the brink of a large-scale attack
“Fear is growing now due to the concentrated airstrikes on the central area, coupled with heavy artillery in recent days,” Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“Deir el-Balah is the only town that is still intact with buildings in which people can take shelter. But now there are growing concerns that the repeated attacks on Deir el-Balah indicate that this area, and much of the central area, is on the verge of a larger attack and a larger invasion.”
Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip even as Israel braces for an expected response from Iran and its close Lebanese ally Hezbollah after the July 31 assassination in the Iranian capital, Tehran, of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Israeli military attacks on Gaza have killed 24 people and injured 110 in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
According to estimates, at least 39,677 people have been killed and 91,645 injured in Gaza since October 7. Some 1,139 people have been killed in Israel in Hamas-led attacks and more than 200 have been taken prisoner.
