The New Arab's Gaza correspondent forced to evacuate home as Israeli bombs rain down on enclave

A correspondent for The New Arab has been forced to evacuate her home in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to bomb the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli bombs have rained down on Gaza since Saturday, after militants from the Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from the territory.

Israel claims its airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip are targeting sites of interest to Hamas militants, but almost all of the Palestinians killed so far have been civilians, Gazan health officials have said.

Sally Ibrahim, The New Arab's correspondent in Gaza since 2021, said the Israeli army had on Monday afternoon ordered residents of the Al-Rimal and Tal al-Hawa neighbourhoods of Gaza City to evacuate their homes as they would soon be attacking the area with warplanes.

"The aircraft are carrying out raids on residential buildings all the time," Ibrahim said.

Israel began its latest bombing campaign on Gaza after Hamas launched their surprise attack Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets from Gaza and sending its militants through the Gaza-Israel border fence.

About 500 Palestinians and 800 Israelis have been killed since the launch of the attack. More than 120,000 Gazans have been displaced from their homes.

More than 1,000 housing units in the Gaza Strip have been either partially or entirely destroyed since Saturday, according to local officials.