Israel expanded forced evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a school where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in Gaza City killed over 90 people, according to the civil defence service, prompting an international outcry. Officials in Gaza said the death toll is expected to grow as they assess the full extent of the damage.
In Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, the evacuation order covered districts in the centre, east, and west, making it one of the largest such orders in the 10-month-old war, two days after tanks returned to the east of the city.
The announcement was posted on social media platform X and in text and audio messages to residents' phones: "For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to the newly created humanitarian zone. The area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone."
Tens of thousands left their homes and shelters in the middle of the night, heading west towards Mawasi and north toward Deir Al-Balah, already overcrowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Featured image: ABOOD ABUSALAMA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty