No place is safe in Gaza after Israel targets areas where civilians seek refuge, Palestinians say
Palestinians wounded in Israeli bombardment are brought to a hospital in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
A Palestinian child wounded in Israeli bombardment is treated in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
Palestinian child wounded in Israeli bombardment is treated in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
Palestinians look for survivors in a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
Palestinians look for survivors in a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
A Palestinian woman walks after surviving Israeli bombardment of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023.
DEIR al-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) 鈥� Even the 鈥渟afe zones鈥� of Gaza aren鈥檛 safe for Palestinians.
Intense Israeli strikes Tuesday destroyed homes, hit a U.N. school sheltering the displaced and killed dozens of people in south and central Gaza.
鈥淭he situation is very, very difficult with artillery shelling and aerial bombardment on homes and defenseless people,鈥� said Abu Hashem Abu al-Hussein, who initially welcomed displaced families into his home in Khan Younis, but then fled to a U.N. school, where he hoped to find safety himself.
Israel had told Palestinians over the weekend to evacuate northern Gaza and Gaza City in advance of an expected ground invasion of the territory following an attack by Hamas militants last week that killed at least 1,400 Israelis.
An estimated 600,000 people complied, packing what belongings they could and rushing to the south, where they squeezed into overcrowded U.N. shelters, hospitals, and homes in the approximately 14-kilometer (8-mile) long area south of the evacuation zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Tuesday of preventing people from 鈥済etting out of harm鈥檚 way,鈥� and he again urged Palestinians to head 鈥渟outh to safe zones鈥�
For some on Tuesday, there was no safety to be had there.
After midnight Tuesday morning, an explosion shattered Moataz al-Zre鈥檈鈥檚 windows. He rushed outside to find his neighbor Ibrahim鈥檚 entire home had been razed. The house next door was damaged also. At least 12 people from two families were killed, including three people from a family displaced from Gaza City.
鈥淭here was no (Israeli) warning,鈥� he said. Al-Zre鈥檈鈥檚 sister was gravely wounded and five of his paternal cousins were also injured following the attack. 鈥淢ost of the killed were women and children.鈥�
Stunned residents took stock of the damage from another strike in Khan Younis. Samiha Zoarab looked around at the destruction in shock, as children rummaged through piles of rubble around the destroyed home, which lies amid a dense cluster of buildings.
At least four people from the same family were killed in the attack, she said. 鈥淭here are only two survivors,鈥� she said.
A strike hit a U.N. school in central Gaza where 4,000 Palestinians had taken refuge, killing six people, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said.
A barrage leveled a block of homes in the central Gaza Bureij refugee camp, killing many inside, residents said. Among the killed was Ayman Nofal, a top Hamas military commander.
Strikes also hit the cities of Rafah, where 27 were reported killed, and Khan Younis, where 30 were reported killed, according to Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centers.
The strikes came even as residents struggled with an Israeli blockade that cut off the flow of water, food, fuel and medicine to the area.
The Kuwait Speciality Hospital in the southern city of Rafah has received two orders from the Israeli military to evacuate said staff had just two hours to leave after Sunday鈥檚 order, in a video posted to the hospital鈥檚 Facebook group. The second came Monday at 10 p.m., as medics worked around the clock to resuscitate patients. 鈥淲e shall not evacuate,鈥� he said.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on why it had called for the hospital evacuation.
Apart from the near-constant stream of wounded patients, the hospital was also sheltering hundreds of people inside its halls and surroundings. Israel 鈥渉as left no red line they did not cross, nor an international convention they did not violate,鈥� said al-Hams. The safety of hospitals, he added, was the last red line left.