A new advance by Israeli forces in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis has resulted in dozens of Palestinian casualties, including women and children, medics said on Monday.
The army attacked in the east of the city, witnesses said. At least 39 Palestinians were killed and 80 more were injured, according to hospital staff in Khan Younis.
The information could not be independently verified.
The Israeli military previously called on residents in the eastern part of the city to leave the area immediately. It said that members of the Hamas militia were carrying out rocket attacks on Israel from there.
The army would take decisive action against this, as it would be dangerous for civilians, it wrote on its Telegram channel. To this end, the borders of a humanitarian zone for civilians were also changed because Hamas had attacked Israel from that area, it said.
According to witnesses, thousands of civilians fled. Many of them had already fled the war from other parts of the Gaza Strip.
In the past, the Israeli military had been active against Hamas forces in Khan Younis on several occasions and over longer periods of time, but had subsequently withdrawn to fixed positions outside the city.
The army accuses Hamas of having taken advantage of this to infiltrate there again and also to use parts of the humanitarian zone declared by Israel for its activities.
