In the shadow of the many airstrikes and the progress of the fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, residents of the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Yunis, began to leave their homes and shelters.
Gazans evacuate to protected places in the southern Gaza Strip, photo: Arab networks
Families went outside with equipment and belongings, and made their way to other areas considered more protected. Some of them plan to go to the tent camps in Rafah. "There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip today," said one resident. Some of those who are evacuating are refugees who have already left the northern Gaza Strip for the southern region, and now have to leave for the second time the new places where they found shelter," they say in Gaza. "No country asks what about us and doesn't want to accept us," an elderly woman shouted for help.
Dozens of Palestinian casualties were evacuated overnight and this morning by Palestinian ambulances and medical teams to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. The Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza said its teams were struggling to reach the wounded and dead in the targeted locations. Sounds of fighting and gunfire were heard on several roads in Khan Yunis province this morning as well. In the Nuseirat and Marazi camps in the central Gaza Strip, neighborhoods and homes were bombed. For many hours, attacks continued throughout the Gaza Strip, while electricity, cellular, and internet cuts were reported. Only in the morning did the Palestinian media companies announce the gradual return of some services.
The southern Gaza Strip, residents leaving for safe places, photo: Arab networks
Incessant explosions and gunfire were heard near Kamal 'Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. For the second night in a row, fighting and shelling have been reported in the vicinity of the hospital. Bodies of dead people slated for burial were piled up at the entrance, and residents of those who had not yet evacuated to southern Gaza were reportedly sheltering inside. "It is difficult to perform surgeries due to electricity problems and lack of diesel fuel and equipment," Hamas medical officials complained, saying that "only four hospitals operate in northern Gaza."
There are about 1.9 million displaced persons in Gaza, according to the United Nations. The Gaza City municipality said most of the water wells in its jurisdiction were expected to cease operations. UN agencies said that the state of war and intensified bombing made it difficult to provide humanitarian aid to various parts of Gaza, and that there was a shortage of clean water.
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