CAIRO/GAZA: Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late Sunday, forcing several families to flee, saying forces planned to crack down on the Hamas militant group and others operating in the area. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders in Gaza, the largest since the start of the 10-month war, prompting protests from Palestinians, the UN and aid officials over shrinking humanitarian zones and the absence of safe zones.
The municipality of Deir Al-Balah says Israeli evacuation orders have displaced 250,000 people so far.
Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, home to about one million people, two at a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border.
The new orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had been sheltering for fear of shelling.
The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement at X late Sunday that an explosion about 250 meters (820 feet) from the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital triggered panic.
“As a result, MSF is considering whether to temporarily suspend wound care while trying to maintain life-saving treatment.”
Of the approximately 650 patients, only 100 remain in hospital, including seven in the intensive care unit, it said, citing the Gaza Health Ministry.
“This situation is unacceptable. Al Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to a lack of alternatives for patients. All parties to the conflict must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care,” he added.
DIPLOMATIC IMPASS
Sawasn Abu Afesh said she and her children have now been displaced 11 times.
“I left half of my children behind me near the furniture and now I am with my little ones and my daughter, only God can help us… I have no money for transport, I will go to zone 17 where my family lives. my leg I took my children and three stayed behind. I have no idea where,” said the woman.
The escalation comes with little hope of ending the war, as diplomacy by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States has so far failed to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders have traded blame for the lack of agreement.
Neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said.
However, a senior US official described the talks as “constructive”, saying they were conducted in the spirit of all parties to reach “a final and implementable agreement”.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new conditions put forward by Israel during the talks, which the group did not participate in, and added that US comments about an imminent cease-fire agreement were false and aimed at to serve electoral purposes.
US President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the US over aid to Israel ahead of the November election.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The crowded enclave has been devastated and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced several times and are facing acute shortages of food and medicine, aid agencies say.
The war was sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli accounts, with more than 250 taken hostage.
