Israel launched strikes on Gaza on Sunday after an evacuation order for Rafah, with the United Nations warning of an outright invasion of the crowded southern city risked an “epic” disaster.
According to Gaza’s civil defense agency, two doctors were killed Sunday in the central town of Deir al-Balah, while AFP correspondents reported intense clashes and heavy gunfire from Israeli helicopters near Gaza City.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged for an immediate halt to the war in Gaza, the return of hostages and a “surge” in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory
Witnesses said Israel had carried out strikes in Rafah near the crossing with Egypt on Saturday.
According to report, Israeli troops defied international opposition this week and entered eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending traffic through another.
Israel expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah, after saying 3,00,000 people had fled the city since the army urged people to leave earlier in the week.
Residents piled water tanks, mattresses and other belongings onto vehicles and prepared to flee again.
A resident of Gaza, Farid Abu Eida who was affected lamented, “We don’t know where to go. There is no place left in Gaza that is safe or not overcrowded… There’s nowhere we can go.”
Residents were told to go to the “humanitarian zone” of Al-Mawasi, on the coast northwest of Rafah.
Hamas however accused Israel of “expanding the incursion into Rafah to include new areas in the centre and the west of the city”.
Meanwhile, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said “we have eliminated dozens of terrorists in eastern Rafah”
AFP, France 24,Hindu
